Jacob Kopnick

The European Commission on Dec. 19 opened a safeguard investigation on alloy imports to look into whether global overcapacity and trade-restrictive measures in other major markets have injured the EU alloy industry, the Directorate-General for Trade announced. If the investigation finds injury to the EU industry, the commission can propose safeguards, which would need approval from a majority of EU member states, the commission said. The investigation shall run a maximum of nine months. The EU can impose provisional duties for up to 200 days if the preliminary determination in the investigation lays out "clear evidence that increased imports have caused or are threatening to cause serious injury," the commission said.

The U.K.'s Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation amended one entry under its Belarus sanctions regime on Dec. 19. OFSI altered the listing for Mikail Gutseriev, a Cypriot-Russian businessman, to establish that he was being sanctioned for "owning or controlling directly or indirectly" Belarussian energy companies JSC NK Neftisa and PJSC RussNeft.

The World Trade Organization and the Asian Development Bank jointly launched a database on trade in critical minerals to boost transparency on those minerals and "support the clean energy transition," the WTO announced. The database provides "up-to-date critical minerals trade data, related policies, and visualisations of trade patterns based on publicly available sources," the WTO said. "Data can be visualised as bar charts, tree maps, and network graphs, providing insights into the main trading partners, product specialization, and trade networks."

The European Commission on Dec. 17 opened a review of the EU safeguard measure on steel, the Direcotrate-General for Trade announced. The investigation will run until March 31, 2025, and any decision resulting from the proceeding will take effect on April 1, 2025, the commission said. The measure was imposed on certain steel products in 2018 and has been extended twice. It's currently set to expire June 30, 2026, at which time it will have reached the "maximum eight years allowed under EU law and WTO rules," the commission said. "This new review investigation will not impact the duration of the measure."

The Supreme Court on Dec. 18 agreed to take up TikTok's case against the bill either banning the app or forcing it to divest its U.S. operations. The court granted the TikTok's petition for writ of certiorari though it deferred its application for an injunction against the bill pending oral argument. Initial briefs in the suit are due by Dec. 27 (TikTok v. Merrick Garland, Sup. Ct. # 24-656).

The U.K. amended its listing for Autel Robotics Co., Ltd., under the Russia sanctions regime on Dec. 18 to reflect a different address. The company was originally sanctioned in July for making unmanned aerial vehicle systems for the Russian military.

Canadian-German national Klaus Pflugbeil, a resident of China, was sentenced Dec. 16 to two years in prison for conspiring to steal and transmit a U.S.-based electric vehicle company's trade secrets, DOJ announced. Pflugbeil pleaded guilty in June, admitting to trying to use a U.S. company's trade secrets to set up his own business in China (see 2406140025). Pflugbeil was originally charged alongside his business partner, Yilong Shao, who remains at large.

The U.S. this week arrested a dual U.S.-Iranian national living in Massachusetts and an Iranian national, charging both with conspiring to ship "sophisticated electronic components" from the U.S. to Iran in violation of U.S. export controls and sanctions.

The World Trade Organization officially set the dates for the 14th Ministerial Conference, which will be held in Cameroon: March 26-29, 2026. It will be the second ministerial conference hosted by an African nation. Kenya was the site of the 2015 conference.

The EU on Dec. 16 announced its 15th sanctions package against Russia, designating nearly 100 new people and entities and taking other measures designed to prevent circumvention of EU sanctions.