The U.K.’s new trade sanctions enforcement agency warned freight forwarders and carriers this week about their obligation to comply with Russia-related restrictions, saying they risk criminal and civil penalties if they’re not doing enough due diligence to make sure every consignment they deal with complies with U.K. law.
The U.S. should ensure its export controls are not so restrictive that they harm the ability of American computing chip manufacturers to compete internationally, Rep. Rich McCormick, R-Ga., said this week.
The U.K. this week launched a new landing page that collects sanctions enforcement information from across the country's various government agencies, including penalty notices, annual reviews, case studies and lessons for industry. The U.K. created the site after hearing from companies that "easily accessible and consolidated enforcement information helps industry learn from remedial action," the government said in a Nov. 3 email to industry.
The Philippines and the United Arab Emirates have applied to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership to counter U.S. trade tariffs, Nikkei Asia reported Nov. 3, citing Japanese government sources. Last December, the 12-nation free trade agreement invited Costa Rica to begin the process of becoming a member (see 2412030053).
The State Department last week approved a possible $353 million military sale to Singapore, the Defense Security Cooperation Agency said. The sale includes "Ebbing Air National Guard Base Facilities Construction Services" and related equipment. There are no principal contractors associated with it.
Texas resident Mohammed Aldalki is suing the Bureau of Industry and Security and CBP, alleging that they illegally detained his 2021 Mercedes before it could be exported to Jordan.
Rep. Ben Cline, R-Va., on Oct. 31 introduced a companion to a Senate bill aimed at ensuring that the Bureau of Industry and Security and the State Department’s Directorate of Defense Trade Controls can continue processing license applications for firearms exports during a lapse in government appropriations (see 2510310048). Cline’s measure was referred to the House Judiciary and Foreign Affairs committees.
John Hurley, the Treasury Department's undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, traveled last week to Israel, the United Arab Emirates, Turkey and Lebanon to speak with those nations about implementing and enforcing the U.N.'s snapback sanctions against Iran (see 2509290051), Treasury said. The agency said Hurley planned to discuss the U.S. maximum-pressure campaign against Iran, as well as how the countries can prevent sanctions evasion and work together better on those measures.
President Donald Trump said the U.S. doesn't plan to allow exports of Nvidia's Blackwell advanced AI chip to China.
Microsoft has secured export licenses from the Commerce Department to ship advanced Nvidia chips to its data centers in the United Arab Emirates, President Brad Smith said Nov. 3 in a blog post on the company's website.