The Bureau of Industry and Security has removed certain export restrictions from aircraft belonging to Belavia, the state-owned flagship carrier of Belarus, as part of sanctions relief that the Trump administration has offered to the country in recent days.
Beijing criticized the Bureau of Industry and Security's decision last week to add a range of Chinese entities to the Entity List (see 2509120077), saying the U.S. has "generalized national security and abused export controls to impose sanctions on numerous Chinese entities in sectors such as semiconductors, biotechnology, aerospace, and trade and logistics."
Beijing is investigating whether U.S. chip policies -- including export controls, tariffs and other trade restrictions -- are discriminating against China’s semiconductor sector by suppressing its firms from developing advanced technologies. China also launched an antidumping investigation on imports of certain U.S. analog chips.
Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, chairman emeritus of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, announced Sept. 14 that he won’t run for reelection to his House seat next year but will serve out the rest of his current term.
Three Republican senators urged the Treasury Department Sept. 11 to place Chinese lidar company Hesai Technology on the Non-SDN Chinese Military-Industrial Complex Companies List (NS-CMIC List), which would restrict the firm’s access to U.S. public investment, including stocks.
Senate Banking Committee ranking member Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and House Financial Services Committee ranking member Maxine Waters, D-Calif., asked the Treasury Department Sept. 15 whether it analyzed the national security consequences of its decision to narrow the scope of a rule implementing the Corporate Transparency Act (CTA).
After two days of talks between U.S. and Chinese officials, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said that they and Chinese counterpart Vice Premier He Lifeng have a "framework" for a deal for China's Byte Dance to divest TikTok to U.S. buyers, and that deal will be completed on Sept. 19 as Chinese President Xi Jinping and President Donald Trump talk about the divestiture.
Canada this month renewed an exemption that allows Canadian organizations and people to continue to carry out humanitarian-related transactions with Syrian institutions that would otherwise be blocked under Canada's sanctions laws. The country renewed the measure for six months, saying it "will support the delivery of assistance in Syria during this important period of political transition." The extension allows Canadians, including the Syrian diaspora, civil society, nonprofit and charitable organizations, to carry out "humanitarian and stabilization activities and make transactions with sanctioned banks, including the Central Bank of Syria."
The Council of the European Union on Sept. 12 extended its individual sanctions, imposed in response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, for another six months, pushing them to March 15. The restrictions cover over 2,500 individuals and entities that were targeted "in response to Russia’s ongoing unjustified and unprovoked military aggression against Ukraine." The council also decided not to renew the listings for one individual and to remove one "deceased person" from the restrictions.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week issued a reminder to industry to file annual reports on blocked property by Sept. 30. Holders of blocked property must provide the agency "with a comprehensive list of all blocked property held as of June 30 of the current year," it said.