The State and Treasury departments should create a sanctions program to address illegal gold mining and other environmental crimes in the Western Hemisphere, said the Financial Accountability and Corporate Transparency (FACT) Coalition in a new report Aug. 20.
The EU will buy at least $40 billion worth of advanced American AI chips, will strengthen cooperation on export controls and investment screening, and will eliminate tariffs on U.S. industrial and other goods, the two sides said as part of a trade framework announced this week. The EU also committed to "substantially” increase purchases of U.S. defense equipment and said it will work to limit adverse effects of new supply chain due diligence rules and carbon border taxes on U.S. exporters.
The president of the American Soybean Association told President Donald Trump that soybean farmers "cannot survive a prolonged trade dispute with our largest customer," urging him to have his trade team persuade China to drop its 20% tariff on American soybeans.
Switzerland is asking exporters to strengthen their compliance procedures to protect against sanctions evaders that are increasingly looking to buy Swiss-origin machine tools, the country said in new guidance published this week.
The State Department this week approved a possible $97.3 million military sale to Australia, the Defense Security Cooperation Agency said. The sale includes Javelin Lightweight Command Launch Units, and the principal contractor will be the Javelin Joint Venture between RTX and Lockheed Martin.
The Export-Import Bank didn’t approve any new transactions involving dual-use goods in FY 2024, the Government Accountability Office reported Aug. 20. The bank also, as of August, wasn't monitoring the end use of any dual-use export transactions "because all such transactions had been repaid in full."
Chinese national Shenghua Wen was sentenced this week to eight years in prison after pleading guilty in June to illegally exporting firearms, ammunition and "other military items" to North Korea by hiding them inside shipping containers leaving a California port (see 2506100049). DOJ said Wen, who was residing illegally in Ontario, California, committed the crime "at the direction of North Korean government officials," who sent him about $2 million for the illegal exports.
Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., said Aug. 19 he is optimistic the Trump administration’s new trade deal with the EU will help peanut farmers in his state increase their exports to Europe.
The Treasury Department is making progress in its effort to document the process that the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. uses to reach consensus on enforcing mitigation agreements, the Government Accountability Office said Aug. 19.
The Treasury Department is seeking public comments to help it identify “innovative or novel” methods that banks and other financial institutions are using to detect illegal financial activity involving digital assets. The comment notice is required by the Genius Act, which became law in July and is partly meant to prevent criminals, terror groups and others from using stablecoins to launder money, evade sanctions or finance terrorism. Comments are due Oct. 17.