Reps. Zach Nunn, R-Iowa, and Jim Himes, D-Conn., reintroduced a bill March 26 that would require the administration to develop a strategy to prevent the use of digital assets for illicit activity, including sanctions evasion. The Financial Technology Protection Act, which the House passed in the last Congress (see 2407230002), was referred to the House Financial Services Committee. Sen. Ted Budd, R-N.C., is expected to reintroduce a Senate companion.
The Senate Foreign Relations Committee approved by voice vote March 27 a bill aimed at curbing China’s export of fentanyl precursor chemicals to Mexican drug traffickers.
The U.K. this week amended or corrected sanctions listings under its Russia and Global Human Rights sanctions regimes. Under the Russia restrictions, the Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation amended the listings for 2Rivers DMCC and 2Rivers PTE LTD, noting that the companies are sanctioned for supporting the Russian government by "carrying on business in a sector of strategic significance" to the Russian government, "namely the Russian energy sector." Under the Global Human Rights sanctions regime, OFSI corrected the listing for Wasantha Karannagoda, commander of the Sri Lankan Navy from 2005 to 2009, to reflect the title of Admiral as part of his full name.
The U.S. is asking Malaysia to more closely track shipments of advanced semiconductors, including chips made by U.S. firm Nvidia, to make sure they’re not transiting the country before ending up in China in violation of U.S. export controls, the Financial Times reported. Trade Minister Zafrul Aziz said the U.S. is “asking us to make sure that we monitor every shipment that comes to Malaysia when it involves Nvidia chips,” according to the report. “They want us to make sure that servers end up in the data centres that they're supposed to and not suddenly move to another ship." Aziz also said Malaysia recently formed a task force to tighten regulations around the country’s data center sector, which relies on Nvidia chips.
Technology companies and industry groups mostly supported a January State Department rule that will add items to the U.S. Munitions List and remove other items that no longer warrant control (see 2501160027), although they said new restrictions around autonomous underwater vehicles, radar-related technology and more could cause unintended consequences.
The EU is growing increasingly concerned about Beijing's use of export controls and trade remedies as retaliatory tools against other nations, a senior European Commission official said this week.
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick has terminated the agency’s Advisory Committee on Supply Chain Competitiveness along with 13 other advisory committees, the Commerce Department said on its website. Lutnick “determined that the purposes for which fourteen of the discretionary advisory committees were established have been fulfilled, and the committees have been terminated” effective Feb. 28.
Reps. Joe Wilson, R-S.C., and Jimmy Panetta, D-Calif., introduced a bill March 24 that would sanction Pakistan Army Chief of Staff Gen. Asim Munir under the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act for allegedly undermining democracy, such as by imprisoning political opponents. The Pakistan Democracy Act was referred to the House Foreign Affairs and Judiciary committees.
A bipartisan group of six House members led by Rep. Brad Sherman, D-Calif., reintroduced a bill on March 25 that would sanction the Gaza-based Popular Resistance Committees, which participated in the Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel.
The Bureau of Industry and Security is poised to receive $171 million in funding in FY 2025, down 10.5% from FY 2024, as part of the Trump administration’s “illegal” cuts to national security programs, Senate Appropriations Committee ranking member Patty Murray, D-Wash., said March 25.