Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., said companies should make sure they comply with national security-related trade restrictions following the Bureau of Industry and Security's record $300 million fine against Seagate Technology for violating export controls against Huawei (see 2304190071). “Our national security interests are being threatened by Communist China, and companies need to take this situation seriously by following the law,” said Wicker, who led Senate Republicans two years ago in producing a report that urged BIS to penalize Seagate for violating the controls (see 2110260040).

The Biden administration should impose new sanctions on people involved in human rights abuses and violence stemming from fighting in Sudan, the top two lawmakers on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee said April 17.

Rep. Mark Green, R-Tenn., reintroduced a bill last week that could lead to new export controls and sanctions against China. The China Technology Transfer Control Act, first introduced during the last Congress, calls on the president to impose restrictions on “any covered national interest technology or intellectual property” exported from the U.S. to China or by a U.S. person to China. It also would require the Commerce and State departments to submit a report to Congress within 90 days of the bill’s enactment “assessing” whether any covered technologies should be controlled under the International Traffic in Arms Regulations or Export Administration Regulations.

Rep. Nathaniel Moran, R-Texas, introduced a bill that would direct the administration to impose sanctions on any foreign person who "knowingly engaged in significant corruption in Mexico," whether through bribery, corruption in government contracts, money laundering, intimidation of governmental or nongovernmental corruption investigators, or involvement in the "production, sale, or distribution of illicit fentanyl or fentanyl analogs." The text of the bill, released April 10, said the president would have the flexibility not to impose sanctions if the sanctions are deemed harmful to U.S. national security interests.

The Government Accountability Office should review illegal U.S. firearms exports to the Caribbean, three lawmakers said last week. Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., along with Reps. Gregory Meeks, D-N.Y., and Joaquin Castro, D-Texas, said they are particularly concerned about illegal trafficking of U.S. weapons to Haiti, adding that America is the “principal source of weapons being used by criminal gangs” on the island.

Senate Republicans last week reintroduced a bill that would condition the removal of U.S. sanctions against Venezuela on “specific democratic progress.” The Venezuelan Democracy Act, first introduced in December (see 2212210005), would maintain sanctions on Venezuela “until there is a transition to democracy” and would require the U.S. to assess whether President Nicolas Maduro's regime should be designated a Foreign Terrorist Organization or a Specially Designated Global Terrorist. The administration also would have to submit quarterly reports to Congress on “specific licenses granted” to people and companies “engaging with sanctioned persons,” along with a report on “foreign persons doing business with sanctioned persons in Venezuela.”

The State Department should impose “mandatory sanctions” against Iran under the Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act in response to the country’s “significant defense transactions” with Russia, three Republicans said in a March 29 letter to Secretary of State Antony Blinken. Iran and Russia are building a “full-fledged defense partnership,” the letter said, which has led to “concerning advances in Iran’s military capabilities” and helped Russia sustain its war in Ukraine.

Democrats introduced a bill this week that would build on the Biden administration’s increased emphasis on human rights concerns when adjudicating foreign arms sales. The Safeguarding Human Rights in Arms Exports Act of 2023, introduced in the House by Rep. Gregory Meeks, D-N.Y., and in the Senate by Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., would codify aspects of the administration's recently revised Conventional Arms Transfer policy and would increase congressional oversight of arms sales.

Senators this week reintroduced a bipartisan bill that would require the administration to form an “effective sanctions strategy” that would be triggered if China invades Taiwan. The Taiwan Protection and National Resilience Act, led by Sens. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., and Gary Peters, D-Mich., would require the departments of the Treasury, Defense, State, Commerce and others to submit a report to Congress describing a “comprehensive sanctions strategy” that the U.S and allies could adopt in response to an invasion.

The top Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee applauded the recent U.S. sanctions against Syria but said more should be done. “It is good to see the U.S. and UK working together to counter the Assad regime and Hezbollah’s dangerous role in narco-trafficking,” Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, said in a press release this week, referencing the designations imposed by both countries against Syrian military officials and other people and companies involved in smuggling amphetamines (see 2303280026). “The administration needs to keep up the pressure to counter this growing threat, including by making sure countries normalizing with Assad understand they are working with a drug lord.”