Switzerland is asking exporters to strengthen their compliance procedures to protect against sanctions evaders that are increasingly looking to buy Swiss-origin machine tools, the country said in new guidance published this week.
Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., said Aug. 19 he is optimistic the Trump administration’s new trade deal with the EU will help peanut farmers in his state increase their exports to Europe.
The Treasury Department is seeking public comments to help it identify “innovative or novel” methods that banks and other financial institutions are using to detect illegal financial activity involving digital assets. The comment notice is required by the Genius Act, which became law in July and is partly meant to prevent criminals, terror groups and others from using stablecoins to launder money, evade sanctions or finance terrorism. Comments are due Oct. 17.
The U.S. this week sanctioned two International Criminal Court judges and two prosecutors that the State Department said have been involved in efforts to investigate, arrest or prosecute people from foreign countries without those countries' consent.
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick spoke with Bureau of Industry and Security employees during a town hall meeting Aug. 19, where he discussed their "vital work supporting Trump’s America First Trade Policy, which boosts U.S. industry, secures supply chains, and protects American tech from foreign exploitation," the agency said in a social media post. "BIS enforces export controls, closes loopholes, and keeps innovation domestic, driving thriving industries and national security."
The U.S., the EU and others should pursue tougher enforcement on Chinese companies that continue to supply Russia’s military industrial complex and continue to buy Russian oil, panelists said during an event this week hosted by the Peterson Institute for International Economics. One said the EU should consider automatically sanctioning any Chinese company whose products are found more than once in drones, missiles or other military items used by Russia.
Switzerland is "strengthening" its humanitarian exemptions under its sanctions regimes to "provide greater clarity" to aid groups, the Swiss Federal Council said this month. The changes, which will take effect Sept. 15, build on the U.N.'s humanitarian exemptions that Switzerland adopted in 2023 (see 2304280023) and are "consistent with Switzerland's humanitarian tradition and its longstanding commitment to protecting humanitarian activities in situations affected by sanctions."
The U.K.’s Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation issued three new FAQs to provide guidance on its Russia-related general license that authorizes certain transactions involving brokerage firms.
Dual U.S. and Russian national Vadim Yermolenko was sentenced to 30 months in prison, and ordered to forfeit $75,547, for his role in a scheme to illegally export controlled dual-use and military items to Russia as part of a Moscow-led sanctions evasion scheme. He pleaded guilty in November to conspiracy to violate the Export Control Reform Act, commit bank fraud and defraud the U.S. (see 2411010047).
House Select Committee on China ranking member Raja Krishnamoorthi, D-Ill., urged the Trump administration Aug. 19 to continue sanctioning China for buying Iranian oil.