Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, reintroduced a bill Jan. 3 that would sanction International Criminal Court (ICC) officials for issuing arrest warrants for Israeli officials over the war in Gaza (see 2405090034).
The Office of Foreign Assets Control on Jan. 6 issued a new license authorizing certain government, energy and personal remittance-related transactions with Syria. The license, General License No. 24, was issued about a month after the Dec. 8 collapse of the country’s Bashar al-Assad regime, which had faced strict financial sanctions.
The U.S. and France held the third Defense Trade Strategic Dialogue in Paris last month, the State Department said Jan. 6, where the two sides discussed increasing market access for defense firms and improving “the efficiency and effectiveness of export controls.” Working groups during the meeting discussed export regulations, international export control regimes and other similar issues, the agency said, although it didn’t provide specific details. “The international context and the new strategic challenges facing our countries require close coordination on international armaments issues, open dialogue to ensure efficient defense trade between our nations and the implementation of effective export controls by both countries.”
U.S. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan discussed export control topics with several senior Indian officials, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, as part of a broader meeting on technology issues Jan. 6 in New Delhi, the White House said.
An upcoming Bureau of Industry and Security rule that’s expected to place new export controls on advanced AI-related chips will “go down as one of the most destructive to ever hit the U.S. technology industry,” major cloud services provider Oracle said this week.
Israel announced sanctions last week against an organization running a donation campaign that it said is crowdsourcing money to support the terror group Hezbollah. Israel’s Money Laundering and Terror Financing Prohibition Authority said the campaign has raised tens of thousands of dollars through donations from credit cards, bank transfers and PayPal. “The imposition of sanctions is another significant step in the economic struggle against Hezbollah and other terrorist organizations, with the aim of discouraging the public from participating in financing their activities,” the Israeli agency said, according to an unofficial translation. The notice didn’t name the organization.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control last week sanctioned Integrity Technology Group, Inc., a Beijing cybersecurity company that it said has been involved in multiple cyberattacks against U.S. people or companies.
The Bureau of Industry and Security is adding 13 companies and research institutes to the Entity List for illegally shipping export controlled items to other Entity Listed firms, supporting China’s military modernization efforts or aiding Pakistan’s ballistic missile program, the agency said in a final rule released last week and effective Jan. 6
Incoming House Financial Services Committee Chairman French Hill, R-Ark., said Jan. 3 that he plans to consult with the incoming Trump administration before possibly taking action on legislation to restrict U.S. outbound investment in China.
China announced new export controls on American defense contractors Jan. 2, adding some firms to a list that bans them from receiving dual-use items and adding another set of companies to its so-called Unreliable Entity List.