Most businesses likely won’t consider entering the Syrian market until the sanctions relief granted by the Trump administration (see 2506300055 and 2505230073) appears to be more permanent, panelists said during a webinar this week hosted by the Arab Center in Washington.
Beijing this week added new export controls on certain battery electrode material preparation technology and removed restrictions on three items related to building construction technology, China’s Ministry of Commerce said, according to an unofficial translation.
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 Office of Foreign Assets Control fined a Connecticut-based online investment broker $11,832,136 to settle alleged violations of multiple U.S. sanctions programs, saying the company illegally provided services to sanctioned people and restricted countries, and it processed trades in securities of blocked Chinese military companies.
The Trump administration will allow semiconductor firm Nvidia to sell its previously restricted advanced H20 chips to China as part of an agreement Washington and Beijing reached during trade talks in recent months, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said.
James Treanor, former attorney-adviser in the Office of Foreign Assets Control's chief counsel's office, has joined Akin as a senior counsel, he announced on LinkedIn. Treanor will help clients with international trade and national security-related regulatory and enforcement issues, including those related to sanctions and export controls. He left OFAC in June.
An Iranian national and U.S. resident was arrested for allegedly exporting electronics used in railway signaling and telecommunications systems in violation of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act and the Iranian Transactions and Sanctions Regulations, DOJ announced last week. Bahram Ostovari is charged with one count of conspiring to violate the IEEPA and three counts of violating the IEEPA, facing a maximum prison sentence of 20 years for each count.
The U.N. Security Council isn’t yet ready to follow the U.S. in removing a broad range of sanctions against Syria, said Thomas Barrack, the Trump administration’s special envoy to Syria and ambassador to Turkey.
The Bureau of Industry and Security’s latest export control enforcement action against a semiconductor firm shows the agency may be preparing to target companies that flout its high probability standard, a trade lawyer and industry consultant said.
The House Appropriations Committee released an FY 2026 Commerce-Justice-Science appropriations bill July 14 that would provide $303 million for the Bureau of Industry and Security, up $112 million or 59% from the FY 2025 enacted level.