The Energy Department is delaying the effective date of a direct final rule that will amend the regulations for administrative procedures related to the import and export of natural gas (see 2505120045).
The leaders of the House Select Committee on China urged the State Department to consider sanctioning Hong Kong Police Commissioner Joe Chow Yat-ming for his role in the Chinese territory's crackdown on pro-democracy activists.
The Senate Armed Services Committee wants the Defense Department to create a “data czar” to collect, track and disseminate information about its Foreign Military Sales program, according to a newly released summary of the panel’s FY 2026 National Defense Authorization Act.
The State Department is adding properties to its Cuba Prohibited Accommodations List and Cuban military-controlled hotels to its Cuba Restricted List. The Cuba Prohibited Accommodations List identifies entities subject to restrictions on lodging-related transactions under the Cuban Assets Control Regulations, while U.S. people are generally blocked from participating in "direct financial transactions" with the entities and subentities on the Cuba Restricted List. The additions took effect July 14.
Finnish customs authorities are investigating a Helsinki-based forwarding company for a yearslong alleged scheme to violate sanctions by illegally delivering about 300,000 euros', or about $350,000, worth of goods to Russia.
The Bureau of Industry and Security is working on a new interim final rule that could make "revisions" to the Export Administration Regulations. The agency sent the rule for interagency review July 10. BIS didn't release more information.
Senate Banking Committee ranking member Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and Sen. Jim Banks, R-Ind., a member of the committee, urged Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang July 11 to avoid undermining U.S. export restrictions during his upcoming trip to China to discuss AI cooperation.
The U.S. government, together with industry, needs to set clearer guardrails around sensitive technology shipments destined to China, two panelists said during an event on export controls last week. Another panelist questioned whether the Trump administration is willing to set tougher rules, saying Beijing appears to have recently gained extra leverage and adding that the U.S. has for years failed to deter companies from flouting restrictions against China.
Sens. Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, and Tom Cotton, R-Ark., have been appointed to the Congressional-Executive Commission on China for the 119th Congress, with Sullivan designated the chairman. Last year, the commission called for imposing export controls and foreign investment restrictions to prevent China from using biotechnology to commit human rights abuses (see 2412270037).
Ahead of an EU-China summit later this month, officials from both sides criticized the other’s trade practices and warned that conditions need to improve if they plan to work together on market access, economic security measures and other trade issues.