The top trade official in the British government and U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai said they want to do even more trade and investment between the two countries, even as a free-trade agreement is not the end goal. Secretary of State for International Trade Anne-Marie Trevelyan had hoped that the Biden administration would continue the free trade negotiations started during the Trump administration, but that has not happened. Marjorie Chorlins, who leads the U.S.-U.K. Business Council at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, also spoke at the March 21 plenary in Baltimore, saying the business community strongly supports more U.S.-U.K. economic cooperation.
Syrian and Lebanese businessman Abdelkader Sabra saw his sanctions status annulled after successfully petitioning the case to the EU General Court. Sabra was listed under the EU's Syria sanctions regime as a prominent businessman in the country. The court said in a March 16 opinion that while Sabra had some business ties to Syria, the European Council hadn't showed he was linked to the Syrian regime, nor was there evidence he supported or benefited from it. As a result, the sanctions listing was annulled.
The EU extended its Bosnia and Herzegovina sanctions regime until March 31, 2024, the European Council said March 18. The restrictions apply to any individual or entity that threatens the sovereignty and constitutional order of Bosnia and Herzegovina and provide for an asset freeze and a travel ban.
Following the U.K.'s imposition of massive sanctions on Russia following its invasion of Ukraine, the U.K.'s Export Control Joint Unit published a General License allowing the provision of technical assistance, financial services and funds, and brokering services for certain vessels. The ECJU authorized these activities where a restricted vessel is moving from a third country to Russia or the U.K., or to a third country from Russia or transiting Russian waters.
The U.K. amended the General License applying to transactions involving sanctioned Russian bank Sberbank. The license, "Correspondent Banking Relationships & Processing Sterling Payments," was altered to allow British credit or financial institutions to continue a banking relationship with Sberbank or a U.K. or non-U.K. credit or financial institution owned or controlled by Sberbank. The license expires March 31.
The EU last week issued a set of frequently asked questions to describe and clarify its new Russia export restrictions and sanctions. The 31-page document outlines items that are captured by the new restrictions, what exemptions are available, when the restrictions do and don’t apply, exporter compliance obligations and more.
Turkey recently imposed temporary export bans on certain agricultural products to “stabilize” domestic market prices, the USDA Foreign Agricultural Service said in a March 15 report. The ban affects shipments of grains, oilseeds, cooking oil and other agricultural goods sourced from third countries being held at bonded warehouses at the country’s seaports, USDA said. Turkey also suspended direct exports of cooking oil, bulk olive oil shipments, margarine, red lentils and dry beans, the agency said, and could block other agricultural exports “at any time.”
The European Council passed two decisions barring certain steel products from Russia and Belarus from entering the EU. To enforce the decisions, the European Commission, in a March 16 regulation, amended the safeguard measures against certain steel products to reflect these decisions. In particular, for each product category where Belarus and Russia had country-specific tariff rate quotas, the commission redistributed those volumes to other exporting countries subject to the safeguard measure, "based on the most recent data available," the commission said.
The EU imposed a countervailing duty on imports of stainless steel cold-rolled flat products from India and Indonesia, the European Commission said in a March 16 regulation. The new duty applies to "flat-rolled products of stainless steel, not further worked than cold-rolled (cold-reduced)." The following duty rates apply to India: 4.3% for Jindal Stainless, 4.3% for Jindal Stainless Hisar, 7.5% for Chromeni Steels Private, and 7.5% for all other Indian companies. The following duty rates apply to Indonesia: 21.4% for PT. Indonesia Ruipu Nickel and Chrome Alloy, 0% for PT. Jindal Stainless Indonesia, 13.5% for non-sampled cooperating company, and 20.5% for all other Indonesian companies.
The U.K. added eight individuals and one entity to its cyber sanctions regime, the Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation said in a March 15 notice. The listed individuals are Aleyona Chuguleva, Darya Dugina, Yuriy Fedin, Denis Gafner, Yevgeniy Glotov, Valeriya Kalabayeva, Aelita Mamakova and Mikhail Sinelin. The listed entity is United World International. All are subject to a travel ban and asset freeze.