The Trump administration should look to negotiate new types of economic and trade deals that are centered on economic security issues, such as export controls and investment screening measures, the Center for a New American Security said in a new report this week. The think tank also called on President Donald Trump to create an economic security strategy, which should outline avenues to strengthen export control enforcement.
The U.S. will impose more sanctions against Russia if Russian President Vladimir Putin doesn't move quickly to negotiate a deal that will end its war against Ukraine, President Donald Trump posted Jan. 22 on Truth Social.
House Foreign Affairs Committee ranking member Gregory Meeks, D-N.Y., announced Jan. 17 that he has reintroduced two sanctions bills aimed at Russian activities in Ukraine.
California-based machine tool manufacturer Haas Automation will pay more than $2.5 million to the U.S. government after being accused of illegally shipping parts and other items to sanctioned and Entity Listed companies in China and Russia.
The U.K. amended the sanctions listing of Russian energy company Gazprom Neft under the Russia sanctions regime. The Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation updated the business registration number of the company.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control fined a Miami-based real estate firm and its owner more than $1 million after the agency said they helped two sanctioned Russian oligarchs transfer their luxury condominiums to their non-sanctioned family members. The firm, Family International Realty LLC, “engaged in a willful scheme” to evade U.S. sanctions against Russia, OFAC said, and earned about $180,000 in commission fees for helping to manage the properties.
Scott Bessent, President-elect Donald Trump’s choice for Treasury secretary, said Jan. 16 that the U.S. should institute a “very rigorous screening process” to ensure its outbound investment does not help China catch up to the U.S. in such key technology areas as artificial intelligence, computing chips, quantum computing and surveillance.
Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., said Jan. 15 that he hopes to elevate the State Department’s role in foreign policy-making if the Senate approves his nomination to lead the agency.
The U.S. this week issued a host of new Russia-related sanctions, designating nearly 100 entities as Russia-related secondary-sanctions risks and a range of other people and companies that it said are helping Russia evade sanctions. The Treasury Department sanctions specifically target a “sanctions evasion scheme” helping people in Russia and China make international payments for sensitive goods and a Kyrgyzstan bank also helping Russia evade sanctions, while new State Department sanctions target more than 150 entities and people, including in China, for supporting Russia’s military industrial base.
Former Deputy Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo has left the Treasury Department to begin new fellowship roles with Columbia University’s Institute of Global Politics and Center on Global Energy Policy, the school announced on LinkedIn. As Treasury’s top official under Secretary Janet Yellen, Adeyemo helped oversee the Biden administration’s implementation of sanctions against Russia, the price cap on Russian oil, and more.