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.
The Council of the European Union renewed its sanctions regime on Guatemala until Jan. 13, 2026. The regime currently lists five people.
The Council of the EU added four people to its Sudan sanctions regime and three people to its Haiti sanctions list on Dec. 16.
The U.S. warned World Trade Organization members this week against adjudicating national security matters, saying in a communication that they should instead bring a "non-violation claim" that would allow for the rebalancing of trade concessions and avoid "dragging" members into debates over political issues.
Chinese lidar company Hesai Technology on Dec. 9 filed a rebuke of its designation as a Chinese military company, urging the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to reverse the decision due to a host of alleged evidentiary and procedural errors. Hesai said the Pentagon, which recently relisted the company, "still cannot find a single connection to the Chinese military or defense industrial base" (Hesai Technology Co. v. U.S., D.D.C. # 24-01381).
The Western regional manager of a New York-based freight forwarding company was arrested Dec. 10 for her alleged involvement in a scheme to violate U.S. export controls and sanctions on Russia, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of New York announced. The manager, Natalya Mazulina, faces 12 counts of various export-related crimes.
Uzbekistan wants to join the World Trade Organization by 2026, a "high-level government delegation" from the Central Asian nation said during the 9th meeting of the Working Party on the Accession of Uzbekistan. Deputy Prime Minister Jamshid Khodjaev said Uzbekistan is looking to "intensify efforts to finalize outstanding negotiations and harmonize its legal and regulatory frameworks with WTO agreements." The delegation noted that since the last meeting of the working party, the nation has concluded negotiations with nine additional members, bringing the total of completed bilateral talks to 22. The chair of the working party, South Korea's Yun Seong-deok, encouraged members to ramp up their engagement with Uzbekistan next year and wants to reconvene the working party in spring 2025.