Both a potential Kamala Harris and a potential Donald Trump administration are likely to continue the U.S. government’s increasing focus on sanctions and export control enforcement, even if their approaches to specific trade measures may differ, such as tariffs against China or sanctions against Russia, said Adam Smith, a Gibson Dunn lawyer.
Diego Ortega, former sanctions regulations adviser at the Office of Foreign Assets Control, has joined Faegre Drinker as a government and regulatory counsel, the firm announced. Ortega worked for over three years at OFAC, where he drafted and published regulations implementing U.S. sanctions authorities and general licenses.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctioned three entities and one person it said are involved in the development and production of Russia’s Garpiya series long-range attack drones, which Moscow uses in its war against Ukraine.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control on Oct. 17 removed sanctions from Atlas Doviz Ticaret A.S., a Turkish firm it originally sanctioned in 2019 for being used to provide foreign currency exchange services to Iran’s Ansar Bank and its currency exchange arm. OFAC didn’t release more information.
Vietnam Beverage Company Limited reached an $860,000 settlement with the Office of Foreign Assets Control after the agency said two of the company’s subsidiaries violated U.S. sanctions against North Korea. OFAC said the subsidiaries, which produce and sell alcoholic drinks, illegally received more than $1.4 million in payments through U.S. banks for sales of alcohol to North Korea.
Reps. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla., and Maria Salazar, R-Fla., introduced a bill Oct. 15 that would prohibit U.S. firms from doing certain business with Venezuela’s energy sector, including its state-owned oil company, until President Nicolas Maduro concedes he lost the July 28 election.
The U.S. this week sanctioned people and companies involved in a sanctions evasion network for the terror group Hezbollah and others that help produce and transport Captagon, an addictive amphetamine, to help fund the Bashar al-Assad regime in Syria.
The U.S. and Canada this week designated the Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network, known as Samidoun, for being a “sham charity” that operates as an international fundraiser for the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine terrorist organization.
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The U.S. will probably increase its use of sanctions and export controls no matter who wins the upcoming presidential election, although a Donald Trump-led administration would be more likely to pursue drastic measures that could accelerate U.S.-China decoupling, said Martin Chorzempa, a senior fellow with the Peterson Institute for International Economics. Those measures include expanding the use of the Bureau of Industry and Security’s foreign direct product rule or placing blocking sanctions on major Chinese companies such as Huawei.