The Bureau of Industry and Security is planning to soon loosen some export controls on Syria, a move that would align with the Treasury Department’s lifting of certain financial sanctions against the country last month (see 2505230073).
The Bureau of Industry and Security is drafting a new regulation that could create a 50%-ownership threshold rule for parties on the Entity List, a BIS official said this week.
The U.S. is willing to lift export controls over certain semiconductors in exchange for China approving exports of rare earths and other critical minerals, a senior Trump administration official said June 9.
The Bureau of Industry and Security's recently issued advanced chip guidance appears to raise compliance expectations for industry, especially for banks and forwarders that may be indirectly or inadvertently violating export controls on China, lawyers said.
Gas and oil pipeline company Enterprise Products Partners said last week that it has received notice that the Bureau of Industry and Security plans to deny its request to ship ethane to China.
Shippers are continuing to press the Federal Maritime Commission for clarity around which agency should regulate certain rail storage fees imposed by ocean carriers on through bills of lading, saying little progress has been made in recent months, despite urging from the National Shipping Advisory Committee.
The EU is aiming to build on its export controls, investment screening measures and other economic security tools over advanced technologies, Trade Commissioner Maros Sefcovic said this week.
A bipartisan Russian sanctions bill that would also target countries still doing certain business with Moscow may hurt Russia in the short term but also could further damage U.S. trade talks with China, said Nicholas Burns, U.S. ambassador to China during the Biden administration. And while Burns said he’s glad the Trump administration has maintained sanctions against Chinese companies for selling sensitive microelectronics to Russia, he said the U.S. likely will never be able to convince China to stop supporting Russia’s defense industrial base.
Banks need more guidance from the Office of Foreign Assets Control to comply with the agency’s new timeline for new sanctions-related recordkeeping requirements, which were extended from five years to 10 years (see 2503190003), the American Bankers Association said.
A grand jury indictment unsealed last week charges two people with trying to pay millions of dollars to ship U.S. export controlled technology and weapons to China, offering in some cases more than double the market rate to buy military jet engines, drones, cryptographic devices and other sensitive technologies.