The U.S. and EU last week organized an export control workshop in Hanoi, Vietnam, to help Vietnam implement trade controls over sensitive items, a State Department spokesperson told Export Compliance Daily. The meetings featured officials from the State Department's Export Control and Related Border Security Program and the EU's Partner-to-Partner Export Control Program, initiatives aimed at helping other nations establish effective controls over weapons and critical technologies. The workshop, held June 18-20, specifically looked to support Vietnam's "licensing of dual-use items," a State Department spokesperson said. Officials from South Korea also attended.
The State Department this week announced new export restrictions against Sudan after determining earlier this year that the Sudanese government used chemical weapons in 2024 and isn't in compliance with the Chemical Weapons Convention (see 2505230007). The agency’s notice, effective June 27, establishes new prohibitions but also waives some of the new export restrictions for Sudan under certain scenarios. The measures will be in place for at least one year “and until further notice.”
A Bureau of Industry and Security move to adopt a 50% rule for parties on the Entity List would expand the list to cover thousands of new subsidiaries in nearly 100 jurisdictions, risk intelligence firm Kharon said this week. While Russia and China would account for most of the subsidiaries, Kharon said the list could cover hundreds more in the EU, the U.S., the U.K., Singapore, Switzerland, Japan, Canada, Australia and India. "Almost none" of those subsidiaries ever have appeared on a government-run restricted party list, it said.
The U.S. appears to have departed from its long-standing policy of keeping national security-related export controls off the negotiating table during trade talks with China last week, said Brad Setser, senior fellow with the Council on Foreign Relations and a former Treasury Department official.
Export controls aren't "perfect," but the U.S. needs to continue using them to stay ahead of China in advanced technology sectors, Sen. Todd Young, R-Ind., said last week.
The Bureau of Industry and Security has completed a round of interagency review for two export-control-related notices that could outline general authorizations for certain controlled exports. One notice is titled “GENERAL AUTHORIZATION NO. 1 Limited Use Cases,” and the other is “GENERAL AUTHORIZATION NO. 2 Temporary Importation.” BIS sent both notices to the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs on May 19, and the reviews were completed June 5. A BIS spokesperson didn't respond to a request for more information.
The State Department's Directorate of Defense Trade Controls is preparing to finalize a set of "targeted revisions" to the U.S. Munitions List that it previewed in a January interim final rule (see 2501160027). The changes would exclude entries "that do not warrant inclusion" and add export controls for "critical and emerging technologies that warrant inclusion." DDTC sent the rule for interagency review June 2.
Taiwan is offering to impose more stringent export controls and investment screening measures to prevent “high-risk countries” from obtaining sensitive semiconductors and other critical technologies, the country’s government told the Bureau of Industry and Security.
The State Department’s Directorate of Defense Trade Controls this week released its notifications to Congress of recently proposed export licenses. The notifications, which cover licenses submitted from October through December, include exports to Germany, the Netherlands, India, Denmark, Saudi Arabia and elsewhere.
Although the Trump administration relaxed a range of sanctions against Syria last week, existing export controls still present risks for people and companies carrying out transactions with the country, law firms said this week.