The Treasury Department should “urgently” implement the administration's executive order on outbound investments (see 2308090066), including by adopting a broad definition of the three technology sectors covered under the order, said Reps. Mike Gallagher, R-Wis., and Raja Krishnamoorthi, D-Ill., the chairs of the House Select Committee on China. The lawmakers also called for the U.S. to do more to convince allies to put in place their own outbound investment screening tools and to pursue additional restrictions on outbound passive investments, including in index funds.
The European Parliament's Environment Committee this week passed a sustainable pesticides regulation that could set new limits on imported agricultural goods and food products, along with other pesticide-related bans. The measures, approved 47-37, with 2 abstentions, would require the European Commission to “examine the differences in the use of pesticides” on imported agricultural and agri-food products by 2025 and potentially propose measures to “ensure imports meet EU-equivalent standards,” the European Parliament said in a news release. It also would prohibit exports of pesticides not approved in the EU.
The U.S. should be doing more to sanction people responsible for the recent “wave of coups and violence” in West Africa and the Sahel, Sen. Ben Cardin, D-Md., said during a Senate Foreign Relations Committee meeting this week. Cardin, committee chair, noted that five countries in the region have experienced coups since 2020 -- Mali, Guinea, Burkina Faso, Chad and Niger -- and the U.S. should be holding parties in those nations responsible.
The House Select Committee on China's leaders said a recent announcement that China would restrict exports of graphite, which is used in electric vehicle batteries, shows how urgent it is to pass legislation to respond to China's actions.
The EU released Oct. 20 its annual report on the implementation of the bloc's strategy targeting weapons of mass destruction proliferation. The report breaks down the state of issues regarding nuclear, chemical and biological issues, along with the current export control and sanctions regimes geared towards addressing these problems.
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The World Trade Organization's Committee on Market Access during its Oct. 16-17 meeting discussed ways to revise the committee's functioning and agreed to carry out a thematic session on supply chain resilience in November, the WTO said.
The U.S. was wrong to suspend certain sanctions against Venezuela last week, Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, said, adding that the Biden administration gave in to the Nicolas Maduro-led government’s “empty promises for insignificant electoral reforms.” McCaul, who chairs House Foreign Affairs Committee, said the administration's decision to “imprudently” grant “sweeping sanctions relief” to the country’s oil, gas and gold sectors will “fill the regime’s coffers and allow Maduro to ensure next year’s presidential elections, which have yet to be scheduled, are neither free nor fair at the expense of the Venezuelan people fighting for democracy.”
The leaders of the House Select Committee on China are seeking information from venture capital company Sequoia on its investments in Chinese technology companies after the company announced it planned to split from its Chinese affiliate by March. In an Oct. 17 letter sent to Sequoia executives, Reps. Mike Gallagher, R-Wis., and Raja Krishnamoorthi, D-Ill., said that even though the company’s split from Sequoia Capital China is a “step in the right direction,” questions remain about whether the move will “staunch future flows of American capital to problematic” Chinese companies.
The Treasury Department issued four new general licenses this week to suspend certain sanctions on Venezuela after the country's government and opposition formally agreed to work together on conditions for the next presidential election. The general licenses authorize certain transactions involving Venezuela's oil, gas and gold sectors and remove a trading ban on certain Venezuelan sovereign bonds and the debt and equity involving Petroleos de Venezuela (PdVSA), the country’s state-owned energy company. Treasury issued new guidance to explain the changes.