Trump Authorizes Sanctions, Export Controls for Wrongful Detentions of US Nationals
A new executive order signed last week by President Donald Trump authorizes sanctions and export controls against any country determined to have wrongfully detained U.S. nationals. The order allows the State Department to designate certain foreign countries a State Sponsor of Wrongful Detention, which would authorize International Emergency Economic Powers Act sanctions against the country and export controls under the Arms Export Control Act, the Export Control Reform Act “or any other Federal law.”
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
Export Compliance Daily combines U.S. export control news, foreign border import regulation and policy developments into a single daily information service that reliably informs its trade professional readers about important current issues affecting their operations.
The State Department can designate countries that have “wrongfully” detained a U.S. person or have “failed to release a wrongfully detained U.S. national after having been notified” by the U.S. that the person is wrongfully detained. The agency also can designate a country if its government is “responsible for, complicit in, or materially supports the wrongful detention of a U.S. national,” or if there is a “pattern” of the government supporting the detention of a third-country national “in which cases the United States has a national interest.”
The State Department can revoke the designation if the foreign country releases the detained person, has “demonstrated changes in leadership or policies with respect to wrongful detention” and has provided assurances that the government won’t commit similar acts. The designation also can be revoked at “the discretion and direction of the President.”
The order applies to entities controlling “significant territory, even if not recognized as governments, to address non-state actors involved in wrongful detentions,” the White House added in a fact sheet.