Even as COVID-19 delays some advances in trade facilitation -- such as being able to use a single window to export into Canada -- the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement has good news for it, panelists said during a Dickinson Wright webinar May 28.
A North Korean bank and 28 North Korean and Chinese citizens were charged with evading U.S. sanctions, according to an indictment unsealed May 28. The scheme -- which included branches of North Korea’s state-owned Foreign Trade Bank in Thailand, Libya, Austria, Russia, Kuwait and China -- involved a series of front companies used to access the U.S. financial system. The scheme allowed the banks to process at least $2.5 billion in illegal payments through more than 250 front companies, which provided funding for North Korea’s nuclear missile programs.
The State Department announced sanctions on Amir Zukic, a former member of Bosnia and Herzegovina’s House of Representatives, according to a May 28 press release. Zukic was designated for corruption that undermined the rule of law.
The European Council extended European Union sanctions against Syria for one year, until June 1, 2021, according to a May 28 press release. The sanctions will continue to target members of the Syrian regime, their supporters, and businesspeople who aid the “suffering” of the Syrian people, European Commission Vice President Josep Borrell said in a statement. The council also removed sanctions from two people and one company that “halted their sanctionable behavior,” along with two additional deceased persons.
The U.S. will officially strip Hong Kong of its special trade treatment, which will include changes to U.S. export controls and sanctions against Chinese officials, President Donald Trump said May 29. Trump said the export controls will impact dual-use technologies and sanctions will target both Hong Kong and mainland China officials.
India lifted export restrictions on the painkiller paracetamol, the country’s Directorate General of Foreign Trade said in a May 28 notice, effective immediately. India previously lifted export restrictions on formulations made of paracetamol but kept restrictions on the paracetamol active ingredient (see 2004200021).
The Directorate of Defense Controls’ Defense Export Control and Compliance System (see 2002190025) will be unavailable from 11 p.m. EDT on May 29 through 8 a.m. EDT on June 1 for system maintenance, DDTC said in a May 28 notice. Users should save work in progress before the scheduled downtime, DDTC said.
A Texas man pleaded guilty to involvement in a scheme to illegally export 17 million cigarettes to Mexico, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said May 26. The cigarettes originated from a warehouse controlled and operated by Jose Francisco Guerra, who authorities later discovered owned a second warehouse with contraband cigarettes. The warehouses contained nearly 423 million contraband cigarettes destined for export to Mexico, ICE said. Authorities uncovered the scheme when they stopped a tractor trailer heading to Mexico with the cigarettes and a falsified shipping manifest, ICE said. The cigarettes on the truck also did not have “the applicable tax stamp” required by Texas law. As part of his plea, Guerra agreed to forfeit his customs broker license and various equipment and assets. The total value of the seized equipment and assets was about $88 million, ICE said. Guerra faces up to 10 years in prison and a potential $250,000 fine.
The House of Representatives passed a bill on May 27 that would authorize U.S. sanctions against Chinese officials for abuses of the country’s Uighur population. The sanctions included in the bill, which passed 413-1 in the House and cleared the Senate on May 14, have been criticized by China and will likely lead to heightened U.S.-China trade tensions (see 1912040046). The bill now awaits President Donald Trump’s signature.
The Trump administration is ending sanctions waivers for certain activities with nuclear projects in Iran, the State Department said May 27. The move will end waivers covering “all remaining” Iranian nuclear projects that originated under the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, which allowed Chinese, Russian and European companies to work on Iranian nuclear sites.