The Joe Biden administration’s trade agenda should prioritize export control cooperation with Europe, work to remove trade barriers for U.S. exporters in Asian markets and address unfair Chinese trade practices, a U.S. technology industry group said. If U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai promotes the right trade “goals,” the U.S. can “re-establish” its technology leadership and boost export competitiveness, the Information Technology Industry Council said in a March 30 letter to Tai.
The U.S. renewed the national emergency authorizing sanctions against South Sudan, the White House said March 29. The White House said South Sudan continues to be “marked by activities that threaten the peace, security, or stability” of the country and surrounding region. The emergency was extended for one year beyond April 3.
A meningitis vaccine shipment is being held up by Italy's customs agency over suspicions that drugmakers are attempting to circumvent COVID-19 vaccine export controls in the European Union, two people familiar with the matter said, Bloomberg reported. The shipment comes from GlaxoSmithKline Plc and is worth about $10 million. It has been sitting at Rome's airport for about a week awaiting testing to determine the true contents of the vaccines. The delayed shipment may turn out to be collateral damage from the EU's ramped up export control regime, which the bloc extended on March 24 due to concerns that vaccine commitments between developers and the government would not be met (see 2103240016).
Five Republican senators recently introduced a bill that would loosen restrictions on certain gas exports to countries that don’t have a free trade agreement with the U.S. The Natural Gas Export Expansion Act would “expedite” permits for exports of liquefied natural gas to non-FTA countries by treating those license reviews the same as shipments to FTA countries, the senators said March 25. LNG exports reached “all-time highs” in November and December, the lawmakers said, but the export permit review process for those shipments can sometimes take years, placing “onerous regulations” on the LNG industry.
The United Nations Security Council extended the mandate of the panel that advises and recommends sanctions actions against North Korea, it said March 26. The panel was renewed until April 30, 2022, and will provide a midterm report on North Korean sanctions to the Security Council Committee by Aug. 3 and a final report by Feb. 25, 2022, to the UNSC.
China imposed sanctions on nine British nationals and four businesses that “maliciously spread lies and disinformation” about the serious human rights violations by China against the Uyghur Muslim minority in the Xinjiang region, a spokesperson for China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a March 26 news release. The sanctions, which take the form of an asset freeze and travel ban, come as a response to the United Kingdom's own sanctions against Chinese individuals or entities on March 23 that the kingdom coordinated with the European Union and the U.S. (see 2103220034). Five members of Parliament were included in the Chinese sanctions: Iain Duncan Smith, Tom Tugendhat, Neil O'Brien, Nusrat Ghani and Tim Loughton. The other four individuals are House of Lords members David Alton and Helena Kennedy, lawyer Geoffrey Nice and Joanne Nicola Smith Finley of New Castle University. The four entities are the China Research Group, Conservative Party Human Rights Commission, Uyghur Tribunal and Essex Court Chambers.
The Bureau of Industry and Security revoked export privileges for five people after they were convicted of violating various export control laws, including illegal shipments of guns, ammunition and other military items, BIS said in March 25 orders.
The European Council will not roll over sanctions on Khalifa Ghwell, Libya's former General National Congress of Libya prime minister and defense minister, it announced in a March 26 news release. Ghwell has been subject to an asset freeze and travel ban since 2016 due to his role in “acts that threaten the peace, stability and security of Libya, or that obstruct or undermine the successful completion of its political transition.” His listing expires April 2.
Three Sheppard Mullin lawyers, across two continents, say the outcome of the new aggressive stance against China's rising technological manufacturing sector is yet to be seen, but that they don't expect the Biden administration to back away from the most significant export control actions taken under President Donald Trump.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control fined an Italian gas equipment manufacturer $950,000 for violating U.S. sanctions against Iran, OFAC said in a March 26 notice. The company, Nordgas S.r.l., knowingly reexported 27 shipments of U.S.-origin “air pressure switches” to Iran, OFAC said, and caused a U.S. company to “indirectly” export goods to Iran.