Wassenaar Arrangement members have begun virtual negotiations on export controls, in observance of mitigation measures recommended during the COVID-19 pandemic, said Heidi Grant, the director of the Defense Department’s Defense Technology Security Administration. The virtual negotiations, which Grant believes have never been done before, started after the pandemic forced the group to cancel in-person meetings for the 2020 cycle, including an April Experts Group meeting (see 2004290044). Grant said the group has submitted 90 export control proposals for negotiations this year, although it remains unclear whether members will be able to vote remotely.
President Donald Trump said that the administration will begin the process of revoking Hong Kong's differential treatment from China, including its more lenient "export controls on dual-use technologies, with few exceptions."
Although China, the U.S. and the European Union have taken actions during the COVID-19 pandemic that are damaging to the goal of free trade, Canadian diplomats and scholars at the Peterson Institute for International Economics said that doesn't mean we're headed for a new round of sphere-of-influence-style trading chains rather than global integration.
Russia is considering a draft bill that would allow imports of sanctioned goods under certain circumstances, according to a May 22 post on a Baker McKenzie blog. The bill, proposed earlier this month, will allow imports if the goods constitute “essential commodities that do not have analogues in Russia” or if Russia is experiencing a shortage of those goods due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Baker McKenzie said.
The United Kingdom’s Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation amended a sanctions entry for Amir Muhammad Sa'id Abdal-Rahman al-Mawla, the leader of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, according to a May 27 notice. He is still subject to an asset freeze. The U.K. and the United Nation Security Council sanctioned the ISIS leader earlier this month (see 2005260021).
The U.S. is considering a variety of sanctions, asset freezes and controls on transactions for China’s planned crackdown on Hong Kong’s autonomy, according to a May 26 report from Bloomberg. The Treasury Department could target Chinese officials and companies, the report said.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said, “No reasonable person can assert today that Hong Kong maintains a high degree of autonomy from China, given facts on the ground,” in a statement May 27 to Congress that Hong Kong no longer warrants the same treatment under U.S. laws as it did before the handover to China in 1997.
The U.S. government decision to increase license requirements for certain foreign exports to Huawei may damage U.S. companies more than Huawei and China, experts said. The same may be true for sanctions being prepared against China for interference with Hong Kong’s autonomy (see 2005220011), the experts said, which may present a large challenge for U.S. businesses. “If the administration follows through on the kinds of threats that they’re talking about … it will have a hugely negative impact on U.S. companies operating there, it will have a hugely negative impact on the people of Hong Kong, and it will have a minuscule effect on China,” said Nicholas Lardy, a Chinese economy expert at the Peterson Institute for International Economics.
China criticized the U.S.’s decision to add more Chinese companies to its Entity List (see 2005220058), adding that it will take measures to “protect the legitimate rights and interests of the Chinese enterprises.” A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson said the U.S. has “overstretched the concept of national security” and abused its export controls. “We urge the U.S. to correct its mistake, rescind the relevant decision, and stop interfering in China's internal affairs,” the spokesperson said during a May 25 press conference.
The United Nation Security Council designated Amir Muhammad Sa’id Abdal-Rahman al-Mawla, the new leader of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, according to a May 21 notice. The United Kingdom’s Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation updated its sanctions list to reflect the change. The ISIS leader was sanctioned by the U.S. in March (see 2003180022).