A Commerce Department official allayed concerns from the U.S. industry that new export controls on emerging technologies will be overbroad, saying it will only look to control a "slice" of categories of technologies, not whole classifications.
An escalating U.S. trade war with Europe would further accelerate the European Union’s efforts to sign free trade deals with other countries, potentially closing off more market access for U.S. exporters, panelists told a House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee June 26.
FedEx filed a lawsuit against the Commerce Department and the Bureau of Industry and Security for imposing export controls it says are “unconstitutional” and “impossible” to comply with, according to court records. The company also said BIS’s Entity List “imposes an overbroad, disproportionate burden on FedEx,” records show. The suit asks the court to stop Commerce from enforcing certain sections of the Export Administration Regulations on FedEx, to declare the EAR “unlawful” and to award FedEx any additional appropriate relief, including “costs and expenses.”
President Donald Trump and the Department of the Treasury announced new Iran sanctions that target the country’s supreme leader and eight senior military officials, the White House said June 24.
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce expects the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement to pass before Congress’ August recess, two Chamber of Commerce officials said, saying Democrats’ issues with the bill are “bridgeable.” “We do think that we can see USMCA move forward before the August break,” said John Murphy, the Chamber’s senior vice president for international policy. “We want to get on with it. We need the certainty that USMCA will provide.”
India’s decision to impose retaliatory tariffs on U.S. goods was expected by most of the U.S. business community, which has been preparing for the announcement for months, said Amy Hariani, vice president of the U.S.-India Business Council at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
Two top Trump administration agricultural officials said “substantial and immediate purchases” of U.S. agricultural goods are hinging on several current trade deals, but said they haven’t been told of any plan by Mexico to “immediately” purchase large amounts of U.S. agricultural goods, as President Donald Trump alluded to in a June 8 tweet.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said it is “deeply concerning” that the White House is seeking a two-year delay on implementing government contracting and procurement-related restrictions on Huawei Technologies, saying the delay would “extend a window of opportunity for what is already a dire threat to our national security.” Speaking on the Senate floor on June 11, Schumer criticized what he said is the Trump administration's contradictory approach to China.
Treasury’s Office of Foreign assets Control sanctioned 16 people and entities, including Syrian oligarch Samer Foz, to cut off “critical supplies and financiers” for Syria's “luxury reconstruction and investment efforts," Treasury said in a June 11 press release. Treasury said Foz has “been profiting heavily front reconstruction efforts” in Syria by building luxury developments on land seized by Syria.
The U.S. should impose harsher sanctions on the Nicaraguan government, the Daniel Ortega regime and the country’s business leaders or risk the country devolving into a similar situation the U.S. faces with Venezuela, panelists told the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Western Hemisphere, Civilian Security and Trade on June 11.