The EU and Indonesia concluded negotiations on a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement and Investment Protection Agreement, the European Commission announced Sept. 22. The EU said the deals are a "key milestone" in "strengthening trade and investment ties with a major economy" and "creating new export opportunities and more secure supply chains for energy and raw materials."
The European Commission on Sept. 23 imposed antidumping duties on glyoxylic acid from China. The duties, which range from 29.2% to 124.9%, follow an investigation that found that glyoxylic acid from China is harming the EU industry. Glyoxylic acid is primarily used in the "pharmaceutical, food, fertiliser and cosmetics industries," the commission said.
India's Directorate General of Foreign Trade on Sept. 23 announced its plans to update export controls under its special chemicals, organisms, materials, equipment and technologies (SCOMET) scheme to reflect recent changes made by multilateral export control regimes. The changes include new or revised controls for certain categories of emerging technologies under Category 7, including systems, equipment and components; test, inspection and production equipment; materials; software; and technology. The major changes begin on Page 182 of the updated SCOMET list. India said they will take effect 30 days after Sept. 23.
Senate Banking Committee ranking member Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and Sen. Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich., urged three government watchdog offices to investigate whether two Trump administration officials had conflicts of interest while advocating for the U.S. to sell advanced AI chips to the United Arab Emirates.
Rep. Michael Turner, R-Ohio, who recently led a bipartisan congressional delegation to Ukraine, Poland and Germany, called on House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., on Sept. 24 to schedule a House floor vote on the proposed Sanctioning Russia Act, which would impose additional sanctions on Russia and new tariffs on countries that buy its oil and gas.
Rep. Josh Riley, D-N.Y., introduced a bill Sept. 18 that would prohibit foreign ownership of American public utility companies. Riley said his legislation is needed to prevent U.S. consumers from subsidizing foreign corporate profits. The Keep the Lights Local Act was referred to the House Energy and Commerce Committee.
House Select Committee on China Chairman John Moolenaar, R-Mich., “strongly supports” Senate legislation that would require U.S. manufacturers of advanced AI computing chips to make their products available to American firms before selling them to China, the panel said Sept. 22.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week sanctioned Indian nationals Sadiq Abbas Habib Sayyed and Khizar Mohammad Iqbal Shaikh for working with narcotics traffickers to supply "hundreds of thousands" of counterfeit prescription pills containing fentanyl and other illegal drugs to people in the U.S. OFAC also sanctioned Shaikh's company, KS International Traders, which the agency said is a "purported online pharmacy used in furtherance of Shaikh’s criminal activities." Both Shaikh and Sayyed were indicted on narcotics-related charges by DOJ last year.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control issued a final rule this week to officially change the heading of the Syria-Related Sanctions Regulations to the "Promoting Accountability for Assad and Regional Stabilization Sanctions Regulations." It also revises those regulations to reflect the administration's easing of certain Syria-related sanctions earlier this year (see 2507010012 and 2506300055). The changes take effect Sept. 25.
The Bureau of Industry and Security is working to issue a final rule for a set of regulations that in January placed new export controls on certain lab equipment that can be misused by "countries of concern" for military purposes (see 2501150020). The rulemaking, sent for interagency review Sept. 23, will finalize those revisions to "address the accelerating development and deployment of advanced biotechnology tools contrary to U.S. national security and foreign policy interests," BIS said.