Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., criticized the Biden administration April 25 for reportedly planning to sanction a battalion of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) for alleged human rights violations against Palestinians in the West Bank (see 2404220047). Rubio said in a statement that the designation would “stigmatize the entire IDF” and “encourage” terrorist groups Hamas and Hezbollah and their Iranian government backers.
Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., ranking member of the House Financial Services Committee, and four Democratic senators urged the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit to reverse a district court judge’s ruling that the Corporate Transparency Act (CTA) is unconstitutional.
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, in an interview with Reuters, said that while in her view, outright seizure of frozen Russian assets in the U.S. and Europe is justifiable, that's not the only option to put those assets to use to help Ukraine's economy survive the Russian invasion.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control is sanctioning 16 entities, eight people, five vessels and one aircraft for their involvement in the Iranian military’s drone trade, the agency announced April 25.
The Bureau Industry and Security on May 30 will begin revoking some export licenses for firearms, and shortening the lengths of others, in line with changes to export controls for firearms made in an interim final rule released April 26.
Russia is still able to buy semiconductors for its war effort -- especially from China -- despite Western sanctions and export controls, a semiconductor policy researcher said in a new report this month. Although the restrictions are forcing Russia to pay almost double for some chips and require Russian supply chain managers to constantly find new supply lines, the report said Chinese suppliers are increasingly filling the market gap left by companies in the U.S. and elsewhere who are adhering to the export restrictions.
European countries not in the EU aligned with two recent EU sanctions moves concerning Iran and human rights abuses, the Council of the EU announced.
The Dutch Supreme Court on April 24 said it will refer two preliminary questions to the European Court of Justice concerning the effect of EU Russia sanctions on sanctioned parties' shareholder voting rights, according to an unofficial translation.
President Joe Biden signed into law April 24 a wide-ranging national security bill that will, among other things, ban TikTok in the U.S. if China’s ByteDance doesn't sell the popular social media application to an entity that isn’t controlled by a foreign adversary (see 2404220041 and 2404180020).
U.S. exports of semiconductors and their components to China dropped 39% to $6.8 billion in 2023 and were down 52% from their 2021 peak, partly due to restrictions the Bureau of Industry and Security released in October 2022 and expanded a year later (see [Ref:2310170055), the U.S.-China Business Council said April 23.