Twelve Senate Democrats urged President Donald Trump Oct. 29 not to ease U.S. restrictions on inbound or outbound investment as part of a potential trade deal with China this week.
Reps. Keith Self, R-Texas, and Michael McCaul, R-Texas, introduced a bill Oct. 28 that would increase the civil penalties that may be imposed under the Export Control Reform Act of 2018.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control removed sanctions Oct. 29 from a range of people and entities connected to the Western Balkans, including former Serb Republic President Milorad Dodik and other former or current government officials and entities that had been sanctioned for undermining democracy in the region. The move deleted dozens of entries from OFAC's Specially Designated Nationals List, including people and companies that OFAC previously said had provided major sources of revenue for Dodik and his family, helped Dodik and his circle evade sanctions, threatened the implementation of the Dayton Peace Agreement that ended the Bosnian war, and more.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control issued a new general license this week that authorizes certain transactions involving the German subsidiaries of major Russian energy company Rosneft, which OFAC sanctioned earlier this month (see 2510220050). General License 129, issued Oct. 29, authorizes certain transactions with Rosneft Deutschland GmbH and RN Refining & Marketing GmbH, along with their majority-owned entities, through 12:01 a.m. ET April 29. OFAC also updated one FAQ about its restrictions on petroleum services involving Russia.
The Trump administration has signaled that it may not waste time in enforcing the Bureau of Industry and Security’s new 50% rule, said Gavin Proudley, head of third-party risk proposition at Dow Jones, during the International Compliance Professionals Association's fall conference this week in Texas.
Nvidia’s Blackwell AI processors, the company’s latest advanced AI chip, will be part of trade negotiations in talks with China this week, President Donald Trump told reporters Oct. 28.
The U.S. is postponing the Bureau of Industry and Security's 50% rule for one year in exchange for Beijing delaying its rare earth export controls for one year, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in an Oct. 30 interview with Fox Business. "We are going to be suspending [the BIS 50% rule] for a year in return for the suspension on the rare earth licensing regime," he said.
Michael Wain, former deputy assistant director for policy with the Office of Foreign Assets Control, has joined Akin as a senior policy adviser. Wain left OFAC in September after joining the agency in 2019.
Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Jim Risch, R-Idaho, on Oct. 28 called for designating Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces (RSF) a Foreign Terrorist Organization, following the mass killing of civilians during the militia’s takeover of the city of El Fasher.
More than 50 congressional Democrats, including Senate Banking Committee ranking member Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and House Foreign Affairs Committee ranking member Gregory Meeks, D-N.Y., urged the Trump administration Oct. 27 to reverse its recent decision to roll back a Biden-era interim final rule that increased restrictions on firearms exports.