The U.K. should be wary of language in the recently announced trade framework with the U.S. (see 2505090006) that calls on Britain to comply with certain supply chain security requirements, which they said the U.S. could use to pressure the U.K. in its trading relationship with China, the U.K. Parliament heard from witnesses this week.
The U.S. government could improve its ability to wield its economic statecraft tools, including sanctions, export controls and investment screening, by making several organizational changes, such as creating an interagency coordinating body co-led by a new high-ranking official at the State Department, a researcher told the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on East Asia and the Pacific May 14.
The Trump administration has a chance to create a “simpler, stronger” version of the soon-to-be-repealed AI diffusion rule (see 2505130018), including one that maintains strict export controls on adversaries while imposing few or no controls on close allies, researchers said this month.
Patrick Childress, former assistant general counsel in the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, has joined Holland & Knight as a partner in the international trade practice, the firm announced. Childress joined the USTR general counsel office in 2020, where he advised Congress, administration officials and federal agencies on various trade matters, including "digital trade, climate, trade in automotives, foreign investment and regional matters involving Canada and Mexico," the firm said.
House Select Committee on China ranking member Raja Krishnamoorthi, D-Ill., said May 13 that he’s concerned the potential transfer of advanced U.S. computing chips to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates could allow the sensitive technology to fall into China’s hands.
The Council of the European Union on May 12 extended the sanctions against cyber-attacks threatening the EU for another year, until May 18, 2026. The council also extended the legal framework for the restrictions for three years, pushing them until May 18, 2028. The framework lets the EU impose targeted sanctions on individuals or entities involved in "cyber-attacks which cause a significant impact, and constitute an external threat to the EU or its member states," the council said. The measures currently apply to 17 people and four entities.
The State Department this week added Cuba back to the list of countries that aren’t cooperating fully with U.S. counterterrorism efforts, about one year after the Biden administration delisted the island nation (see 2405170040).
The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week sanctioned about two dozen entities and vessels with ties to Iran's oil trade, including front companies that it said are hiding the origin of Iranian oil, China-based buyers, and ships moving Iranian oil. The designations target companies and ships in Hong Kong, Singapore and Iran, and vessels carrying the flags of Cameroon and Panama and their owners based in Hong Kong and the Seychelles.
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President Donald Trump announced May 13 that he plans to order the “cessation of sanctions against Syria” to give the war-torn country a “chance at greatness.”