The administration should continue to levy new sanctions against Chinese officials responsible for human rights abuses, including a permanent ban on exports of crowd-control equipment to Hong Kong police, the bipartisan Congressional-Executive Commission on China said in a report last week.
A group of non-EU European countries aligned with the EU's March 10 sanctions decision to add 14 Russian businesspeople and 146 members of the Russian Federation Council to the sanctions regime over Russia's invasion of Ukraine (see 2203100021). Aligning were North Macedonia, Montenegro, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Ukraine.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctioned five entities that provide support to North Korea's weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missile programs following a series of ballistic missile launches over the past several months. OFAC said the actions target a North Korean WMD research and development organization along with four of its revenue-generating subsidiaries.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control on April 1 fined S&P Global, a business analytics firm, $78,750 for violating U.S. Ukraine-related sanctions regulations. OFAC said the case was non-egreious, partly due to S&P's cooperation and agreement to improve its compliance program.
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative released its 2022 National Trade Estimate Report on Foreign Trade Barriers, detailing the most significant foreign market access issues facing U.S. exporters. The report examines a range of import policies, tariffs, customs procedures and phytosanitary measures that are restricting U.S. goods, including China’s new “opaque and burdensome” facility registration requirements.
Australia will soon impose an additional 35% tariff on all imports from Russia and Belarus in response to Moscow’s war in Ukraine. Australia will rescind its most-favored-nation tariff treatment for both countries, effective April 25, the country’s foreign ministry said March 31. It said it will “continue to work with partners to impose the maximum costs on Russia,” including sanctions and other trade restrictions (see 2203210006 and 2203180006).
Tuqiang Xie, of Irvine, California, was sentenced to a year in prison for brokering the sales of export-controlled defense articles from China and filing a false corporate tax return, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Illinois said March 31. In 2019, Xie pleaded guilty to one count of violating the Arms Export Control Act and one count of filing a false tax return. Sentencing took place after hearing in Chicago. In the plea agreement, Xie admitted to using his Irvine-based company, Bio-Medical Optics, as a broker for the shipment of defense articles listed on the U.S. Munitions List and the U.S. Munitions Import List. Xie had not obtained the required export license for these items.
The Bureau of Industry and Security this week revoked export privileges for five people after they illegally exported defense items or weapons ammunition.
The House should add stronger sanctions measures to the Russia-related bills recently passed out of the Financial Services Committee (see 2203180021), including more serious capital market and investment penalties, the Coalition for a Prosperous America said in a March 29 letter to Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.
President Joe Biden extended national emergencies that authorize certain sanctions against Somalia and “significant malicious cyber-enabled activities,” the White House said March 30. Both emergencies were extended for one year, from April 12, 2022, and March 1, 2022, respectively.