Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, reintroduced a bill March 3 to sanction foreign persons who engage in or facilitate forced organ harvesting in China. The legislation was referred to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. It is a companion to a bill that Rep. Scott Perry, R-Pa., reintroduced in late February (see 2502250056).
Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., said March 4 that he plans to introduce legislation to address the Trump administration’s recent move to repeal a Biden administration policy linking arms transfers to human rights.
The Trump administration plans to build international support for using sanctions to counter Iran’s nuclear weapons program, deputy secretary of state nominee Christopher Landau said March 4.
David Newman, the DOJ’s second-highest-ranking national security official under the Biden administration, has joined Morrison Foerster to advise on sanctions issues, export control enforcement, reviews before the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S., and more. Newman previously served as the principal deputy assistant attorney general for DOJ’s National Security Division, where he oversaw federal prosecutors working on cases related to sanctions breaches, export control evasion and other national security issues.
The Treasury Department plans to modify its beneficial ownership information (BOI) reporting rule so that it applies only to foreign companies and not U.S. businesses, the agency announced March 2.
Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., introduced three more joint resolutions of disapproval Feb. 25 aimed at blocking the sale of military equipment to Israel. His office provided no additional details about the measures, which were referred to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Sanders’ move came five days after he introduced four resolutions to block more than $8 billion in arms sales to Israel (see 2502250067).
Rep. Bill Huizenga, R-Mich., reintroduced a bill Feb. 27 that would require the Defense and State departments to monitor China’s efforts to build or buy “strategic foreign ports.”
Sens. Jim Banks, R-Ind., and Mark Warner, D-Va., introduced a bill Feb. 26 that aims to give Congress greater insight into the export licensing process at the Bureau of Industry and Security.
The Bureau of Industry and Security for the past month has been led by a key Project 2025 contributor entrusted by the Trump administration with overseeing an export control policy review, an effort that resulted in a licensing pause and coincided with multiple senior career employees leaving the agency. BIS resumed processing and approving certain license applications around the same time the Trump official was removed from his position late last month, Export Compliance Daily has found.
Thailand on Feb. 27 returned to China at least 40 Uyghurs that had been detained in Thailand for years, despite calls from the U.S. officials not to do so and threats of possible sanctions by lawmakers.