The Senate voted 68-29 late Jan. 27 to confirm hedge fund manager Scott Bessent as treasury secretary.
The auction process for ships to pass through the Panama Canal when the water is low, and the fact that a Hong Kong company owns ports by the entrance and exit of the Panama Canal were the focuses of a Senate hearing on the canal -- but the way Iranian ships used Panama to evade sanctions also came up.
Export Compliance Daily is providing readers with the top stories from last week in case you missed them. You can find any article by searching for the title or by clicking on the hyperlinked reference number.
The Trump administration may be beginning to favor the use of trade policy tools like tariffs to replace sanctions to compel foreign policy, researchers said on a podcast hosted by the Center for a New American Security last week.
House Select Committee on China Chairman John Moolenaar, R-Mich., said Jan. 28 that the U.S. should place stronger export controls on technologies critical to the infrastructure of an advanced new Chinese artificial intelligence model.
Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., reintroduced a bill Jan. 23 to sanction entities and people that pay Palestinian terrorists and their families for attacks against Israelis. The measure, which was referred to the Senate Banking Committee, also would sanction financial institutions that facilitate such payments. Rep. Mike Lawler, R-N.Y., is expected to introduce companion legislation in the House. The bill was previously introduced in both chambers in July, in the previous Congress (see 2407260039).
Reps. Young Kim, R-Calif., and Jim McGovern, D-Mass., introduced a bill Jan. 24 that could lead to the sanctioning of Hong Kong officials for human rights violations.
The House Foreign Affairs Committee plans to take up a State Department authorization bill “sometime after” the August congressional recess, committee Chairman Brian Mast, R-Fla., said Jan. 23.
Sen. Bill Hagerty, R-Tenn., will chair the Senate Banking Subcommittee on National Security and International Trade and Finance in the new 119th Congress, the full committee announced Jan. 23. Sen. Andy Kim, D-N.J., will be ranking member of the subcommittee, whose jurisdiction includes export controls and the International Trade Administration. The subcommittee also will include Sens. Pete Ricketts, R-Neb.; Jim Banks, R-Ind., Dave McCormick, R-Pa., Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., and Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nev.
Republican lawmakers reintroduced several bills Jan. 22 aimed at curbing the acquisition of American land by certain foreign countries.