The top Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee said the Commerce Department hasn’t yet provided “acceptable responses” to oversight questions about the agency’s technology export controls. In a letter sent last week to Commerce, Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, said the House committee may “use the authorities available to it to enforce these requests as necessary, including through compulsory process.”
The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network adjusted its civil monetary penalties for inflation, the agency said in a notice this week. The new amounts include higher maximum penalties for various recordkeeping and banking violations associated with illegal funds transfers, which can sometimes violate U.S. sanctions. The changes take effect Jan. 19.
U.S. and Japanese officials this week said they are hopeful the two countries will soon align their semiconductor export controls against China, adding to optimism within the Commerce Department that U.S. allies will eventually agree on the chip restrictions. The U.S. and Japan have made “progress” during recent talks, Japanese Ambassador Koji Tomita said, adding that they could reach more concrete results shortly.
Various European countries outside the EU aligned themselves with a string of six recent sanctions decisions made by the European Council, the EC said in Jan. 16 news releases.
Ukraine imposed sanctions on 198 Russian, Ukrainian and Belarusian citizens for their role in Russia's war in Ukraine, under a decree from President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, according to an unofficial translation. The sanctions include asset freezes, restrictions on the withdrawal of capital from Ukraine and trade restrictions. In an address, Zelenskyy said the individuals include those "who justify terror" and spread Russian misinformation.
The U.N. Security Council and the U.K. this week added one entry to its ISIL (Da'esh) and al-Qaida sanctions regimes. The designation targets Pakistan national Abdul Rehman Makki, who is the chief of Lashkar-e-Tayyiba, a militant Islamist organization. The U.K. also corrected the entry for Mohammad Jafar Montazeri under its Iran (Human Rights) sanctions list.
Future U.S. presidential candidates should put forth an aggressive agenda to tackle China trade issues, including stronger export controls, experts with the American Enterprise Institute said in a blog post this month. The post, by AEI senior fellows Derek Scissors, Zack Cooper and Dan Blumenthal, includes a range of suggestions for presidential candidates to form a “comprehensive policy on how to approach the economic, military, and political threats that China poses.”
Electronics distribution company Broad Tech System and its president and owner, Tao Jiang of Riverside, California, pleaded guilty Jan. 11 to participating in a conspiracy to illegally ship chemicals made or distributed by a Rhode Island-based company to a Chinese firm with ties to the Chinese military, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Rhode Island announced. Jiang and Broad Tech admitted to violating the Export Control Act and conspiring to commit money laundering.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control Jan. 17 again extended a general license that continues to delay an exemption that would authorize certain transactions related to Petroleos de Venezuela, S.A. General License 5J, which replaced GL 5I, now authorizes certain transactions with PdVSA involving an 8.5% bond on or after April 20. The agency also updated a frequently asked question to reflect the change. The previous license was set to allow those transactions to occur on or after Jan. 20.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week updated three Russia-related general licenses and four frequently asked questions.