Shippers of cargo from Asia to the U.S. East Coast could see shipments take five to 10 days longer as carriers avoid the Suez and Panama canals due to disruptions caused by conflict and drought, Nathan Strang of Flexport said Dec. 20.
A Kansas business owner pleaded guilty Dec. 19 for his part in a scheme to violate U.S. export laws by filing false export forms and shipping "sophisticated and controlled" avionics equipment to Russian customers without export licenses, DOJ announced. Cyril Buyanovsky, owner of KanRus Trading Co. also agreed to forfeit over $450,000 worth of avionics equipment along with a $50,000 personal forfeiture. He faces a maximum of 25 years in prison.
The oil shipping industry will soon be required to comply with new attestation and record-keeping rules as part of the global price cap on Russian oil, the Treasury Department said in an updated price cap guidance released Dec. 20. The agency also issued new sanctions against a Russian government-controlled ship manager and other traders who frequently transport Russian oil above the price cap.
Turkish duties on a host of U.S. products in retaliation for President Donald Trump's Section 232 steel and aluminum tariffs violate World Trade Organization commitments, a WTO dispute panel ruled Dec. 19. The panel said the duties violate articles I and II of the 1994 General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade and also found that the Section 232 duties are not "safeguards."
The U.S. this week sanctioned 10 companies and four people with ties to Iran’s unmanned drone program, including Hossein Hatefi Ardakani, the Iranian-based leader of the network who helped illegally procure hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of U.S. and foreign-made components to Iran. Along with the new sanctions, DOJ charged Ardakani and his accomplice, China-based Gary Lam, for violating U.S. export controls.
The U.S. will grant new Section 232 exclusions for steel and aluminum imports from the EU as part of a deal that will also extend the tariff rate quotas on EU steel and aluminum and avoid EU retaliatory tariffs on U.S. exports.
The U.K. announced plans this week to put in place a carbon border adjustment mechanism, which could lead to new import taxes and due diligence requirements on aluminum, cement, ceramics, fertilizer, glass, hydrogen, iron, steel and other industrial sectors associated with high carbon emissions. The mechanism, which is expected to be implemented in 2027, came after a 12-week public comment period in which over 100 representatives from industry, non-governmental organizations, think tanks and academia gave input about the types of products that should be covered, how import taxes should be calculated, a timeline for implementation and more.
The EU this week announced a new wide-ranging package of Russia sanctions, including designations of more than 140 people and companies as well as new import restrictions on Russian raw materials used to produce certain metals and new export controls on dual-use technology and industrial goods. The package also includes new restrictions on exports of industrial-related services, a broader ban on Russian energy products, a “tighter obligation” for member states to trace assets of sanctioned parties, new anti-sanctions circumvention measures and more.
The proposed European Union forced labor trade ban waits to stop goods until after a government investigation finds the goods contain forced labor, in contrast to the U.S. approach, which automatically bans all imports that are suspected to be made with forced labor, without a separate investigation, trade lawyer John Foote said.
The Bureau of Industry and Security last week opened registration for its rescheduled March 27-29 update conference on export controls and policy. The conference originally was set for Nov. 28-30 (see 2311080088).