Sen. Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, applauded the Trump administration's decision last week to lift sanctions on Syria and urged the U.S. to help advance democracy in the country. "This is a positive step that will help Syria build a stable future," she said. "As we continue to lift restrictions, it is critical that we also increase our engagement with the Syrian authorities to help advance long-term stability, democracy and a more secure and prosperous future for the Syrian people and the region.”
The U.K. recently removed or amended entries from its ISIL (Da'esh) and al-Qaida, Zimbabwe, and Russia sanctions regimes.
The Trump administration confirmed this week it will not renew a general license from the Office of Foreign Assets Control that has allowed Chevron to wind down certain oil activities in Venezuela.
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang last week criticized U.S. export controls on advanced chips, saying restrictions against China have so far been a “failure.” He called on the government to allow Nvidia and other chip companies to more freely sell to China, which he said will help the U.S. economy.
Export Compliance Daily is providing readers with the top stories from last week, in case you missed them. You can find any article by searching for the title or by clicking on the hyperlinked reference number.
The Consolidated Screening List -- the comprehensive list of entities and people subject to U.S. export controls and other trade restrictions -- has recently been experiencing issues and isn't up to date, the Commerce Department said in a notice on its website last week. While the list's search engine still works, "it has not been updating consistently from the source files since April 21, 2025."
Sens. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., Andy Kim, D-N.J., and Lisa Blunt Rochester, D-Del., have been appointed to the Congressional-Executive Commission on China for the 119th Congress. 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).
A bipartisan group of five senators, including Senate Foreign Relations Committee ranking member Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., reintroduced a bill May 21 that would mandate sanctions against Haitian criminal gangs and the political and economic elites who support them.
Senate Banking Committee Chairman Tim Scott, R-S.C., and Sen. Maggie Hassan, D-N.H., reintroduced a bill May 22 that would repeal the 2026 sunset provision of the Iran Sanctions Act of 1996, which calls for sanctioning Iran’s weapons programs and support for terrorism. The proposed Solidify Iran Sanctions Act, which was referred to the Banking Committee, passed the House in early May (see 2505060054).
The Office of Foreign Assets Control released another video May 23 in its ongoing effort to provide guidance on U.S. sanctions programs and rules. The latest episode provides an overview of how to contact the OFAC Compliance Hotline to submit questions about U.S. sanctions compliance and OFAC resources. The agency's other videos offer a tutorial on using its sanctions list search tool (see 2401190016), an introduction to U.S. sanctions programs (see 2307280070), and an introduction to blocking and non-blocking sanctions (see 2308280047).