A potential Chinese blockade of Taiwan could significantly affect trade routes to and from Asia, along with broader supply chains that depend on the region, said Eric Heginbotham, an international studies research scientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Senate Foreign Relations Committee ranking member Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., and Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, who's also on the committee, introduced a bill Aug. 1 that could lead to additional sanctions on China for providing dual-use items to Russia’s war against Ukraine.
A State Department spokesperson this week declined to say whether the U.S. would consider reinstating sanctions against Israeli settlers who have committed violence against Palestinians in the West Bank. But, he said, the U.S. has spoken with the Israeli government about the recent uptick in violence.
President Donald Trump this week accused India of buying large amounts of Russian oil and selling it for profit, adding that he plans to significantly raise U.S. tariffs against the country.
The U.S. District Court of the Southern District of New York on July 30 permanently enjoined the U.S. from enforcing its International Criminal Court-related sanctions against two law professors. Judge Jesse Furman held that the sanctions impermissibly violate the professors' First Amendment free speech rights and that the law professors, Gabor Rona at the Cardozo School of Law and Lisa Davis at CUNY School of Law, likely will suffer irreparable harm without an injunction (Gabor Rona v. Trump, S.D.N.Y. # 25-03114).
The U.K.'s Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation updated its Russia-related sanction entry for Petr Olegovich Aven, an executive with the Alfa Group Consortium, one of Russia’s largest financial and investment conglomerates. OFSI changed his address from Moscow to Riga, Latvia, and updated other identifying information.
The State Department issued notice of its latest report to Congress under the Iran Freedom and Counter-Proliferation Act to certify that Iran wasn't using certain raw or semi-finished metals described in the IFCA “as a medium for barter, swap, or any other exchange." The agency did say, however, that Iran was using certain products in connection with its nuclear, military or ballistic missile programs, including "austenitic nickel-chromium alloy," "magnesium ingots," "sodium perchlorate," tungsten copper and more. The agency also continued to determine, in coordination with the Treasury Department, that the construction sector of Iran is controlled directly or indirectly by the sanctioned Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
The State Department sent a final rule for interagency review that would amend restrictions against Cyprus under the International Traffic in Arms Regulations. The rule, sent July 31 to the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, could build on past measures to relax export restrictions on certain defense goods and services involving the country (see 2409260011). The State Department has renewed those relaxed restrictions for Cyprus each year since 2020, with the latest renewal scheduled to expire Sept. 30.
The Trump administration plans to maintain strict China-related export controls on the most advanced semiconductors and chip manufacturing equipment, a senior White House official said last week, adding that the U.S. also doesn’t plan to automatically greenlight all H20 chip exports to China.
The U.K.'s Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation this week fined Markom Management Limited 300,000 pounds (about $400,000) for violating sanctions against Russia.