President Donald Trump on Nov. 24 ordered the State Department, Treasury Department and other agencies to study whether certain chapters or subdivisions of the Muslim Brotherhood should be labeled a Foreign Terrorist Organization or Specially Designated Global Terrorist. The agencies must submit a report with their findings to the president within 30 days, and they must "take action within 45 days after the report to designate chapters as FTOs and SDGTs if appropriate," the White House said in a fact sheet.

The Drug Enforcement Administration on Nov. 17 submitted a proposed rule for interagency review that would extend the maximum time allowed for reexports of controlled substances outside the European Economic Area, which is currently 180 days from the date of the original release from CBP. The change would "increase the flexibility for reexportation of controlled substances."

Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., and Senate Banking Committee ranking member Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., introduced a bill last week that would require the Bureau of Industry and Security to conduct a competitive market review of applications to export items to entities on the agency’s Entity List.

The U.S. launched a new export licensing platform that allows users to track the progress of applications submitted to both the State and Commerce departments, which it said will “simplify export control processes, enhance compliance, and provide centralized resources for industry users.”

The Trump administration is weighing the pros and cons of lifting export restrictions on shipments of Nvidia’s H200 AI chips to China, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said Nov. 24.

The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week issued a maximum $4.67 million fine against a real estate investor for mortgaging, renovating, and selling a real estate property owned by a sanctioned Russian oligarch’s family member.

The Swedish Police Authority suspects that "extensive" violations of Russia sanctions are being committed by companies indirectly exporting products from Sweden to Russia through third countries, the agency said in a notice last week.

EU foreign ministers last week stressed that the bloc should prioritize new designations of Russian shadow fleet ships and their operators in future Russia-related sanctions packages, according to an EU summary of a Nov. 20 Foreign Affairs Council meeting. "Ministers shared the opinion that going after Russia's shadow fleet should remain a priority for the EU and that work on imposing further restrictive measures on the shadow fleet should continue."

A bill that would require U.S. manufacturers of advanced AI chips to make their products available to American firms before selling them to China “is pretty common sense,” said Daniel Remler, a former State Department official.

Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., tried and failed Nov. 20 to have the Senate vote on his bill to prohibit U.S. arms sales to the United Arab Emirates until the UAE ends its material support for Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces (RSF) militia (see 2503110073).