President Biden issued an Executive Order intending to prevent the large scale transfer of Americans’ personal data to “countries of concern,” including Russia and China.  The Executive Order targets personal and sensitive information, including genomic data, biometric data, personal health data, geolocation data, financial data, and certain kinds of personally identifiable information.

A Florida man pleaded guilty Wednesday to federal criminal charges for conspiring to illegally export thousands of turtles to Germany and Hong Kong, and falsifying documents to conceal his conduct. In other Lacey Act News, a 75 year old lepidopterist in New York pleaded guilty to smuggling rare birdwing butterflies.

Treasury's Office of Foreign Asset Control issued notices renaming and modifying sanctions in Sudan, updating Venezuela FAQs, and making grammatical changes to update existing sanctions.

“China remains the biggest challenge to the international trading system established by the World Trade Organization. It has been 22 years since China acceded to the WTO, and China still embraces a state-directed, non-market approach to the economy and trade, which runs counter to the norms and principles embodied by the WTO,” said Ambassador Katherine Ta releasing her office's 2023 Report to Congress on China’s WTO Compliance.

Citing the Chinese government's broad authority to access and control the "vast amounts of data" generated by by chinese vehicles and components, the US Department of Commerce is preparing rules to bar trading with Chinese Automakers and suppliers of advanced componentry.  Commerce has issued an advance notice of proposed rulemaking (ANPRM) seeking public comment to inform the potential development of regulations to secure and safeguard the Information and Communications Technology and Services (ICTS) supply chain for connected vehicles (CVs).  

The U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Political-Military Affairs “the Bureau” is accepting membership applications for the Defense Trade Advisory Group (DTAG). The Bureau is interested in applications from subject matter experts from the United States defense industry, relevant trade and labor associations, and academic and foundation personnel.

Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), in coordination with the United Kingdom, has sanctioned the Deputy Commander of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Qods Force, a Yemeni militant, and two cargo vessels carrying Iranian petroleum.

Sen. Josh Hawley has introduced legislation to increase the tariffs on Chinese Electric Vechicles form the current 25 percent to 125 percent. This would be the first time that congress has actually set tariff rates since the Tariff Act of 1930, cosponsored by Rep. Willis Hawley of Oregon.

The Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) added two entities to the Entity List under seven entries for activities contrary to U.S. national security and foreign policy interests monday. One entity was found to have been involved in supporting online censorship and surveillance to target political actors and human rights activities in Egypt, and the other is being added for diversion of U.S. items to a Chinese Entity Listed party. 

A year after facilitating the informal discussions for reforming the World Trade Organization’s fractured dispute settlement body, the facilitator, Marco Molina from Guatemala appears to have been called by his government with immediate effect from Geneva, said people familiar with the development. In his last report to the special General Council meeting on February 14, Mr. Molina made the following observations, which are reproduced here below verbatim:

The United States lost a trade dispute with the European Union at the World Trade Organization after a compliance panel found that Washington failed to implement the relevant aspects of a ruling issued by a dispute settlement panel against anti-dumping duties imposed on raw olives from Spain.

Fhe Financial Action Task Force (FATF), the global standard-setting body for anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT), concluded its fifth Plenary under the Singaporean presidency on Friday. The FATF made several key advances, including kicking off a public consultation on potential changes to the FATF Recommendation on wire transfer information and the adoption of new guidance on trusts. The FATF also noted its concern on Russian Federation’s growing financial connectivity with North Korea and Iran.

The foreign ministers of South Korea, the United States and Japan agreed on the need for a firm response to North Korea's provision of arms to Russia for its war against Ukraine, as well as on enhancing cooperation to address North Korean threats, South Korea's Foreign Ministry said Friday.

The U.S. Department of Commerce and GlobalFoundries (GF) have signed a non-binding preliminary memorandum of terms (PMT) to provide approximately $1.5 billion in direct funding under the CHIPS and Science Act. The proposed funding would support a new state-of-the-art facility, significant capacity expansion, and the modernization of GF’s U.S. manufacturing sites in New York and Vermont, which produce essential automotive, communications, and defense semiconductor technologies.  

A member of the Yakuza crime syndicate was indicted Feb. 21 for trafficking nuclear materials, including weapons-grade plutonium, from Burma.  The scheme was uncovered during a DEA investigation into narcotics and firearms trafficking. The Justice Department announced the issuance of a Superseding Indictment charging TAKESHI EBISAWA with conspiring with a network of associates to traffic nuclear materials from Burma to other countries.  

Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has targeted Joint Stock Company Sovcomflot, Russia’s state-owned shipping company and fleet operator. In addition to designating Sovcomflot, OFAC is identifying 14 crude oil tankers as property in which Sovcomflot has an interest.

Customs & Border Protection has released a new training video "How to Submit Allegations of Forced Labor," the latest in its CBP Trade Webinars series. This video outlines how to submit an allegation for forced labor, including where to submit and what to include in the allegation.

Akin Gump announced Opher Shweiki, former Commerce Department Chief Counsel for the Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS), has joined as a partner in its Washington, D.C. office. Prior to his role at BIS, Shweiki was the National Security and Cybercrime Coordinator at the Executive Office for U.S. Attorneys and an Assistant U.S. Attorney with the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Washington, D.C.

The Justice Department unsealed of an Indictment charging sanctioned Russian oligarch and the President and Chairman of a Russian state-owned VTB bank, Andrey Kostin, with participating in two separate schemes that violated U.S. sanctions. The first scheme was to operate, maintain, and improve  two superyachts, collectively worth over $135 million, while the second scheme was related to the operation and transfer of Mr. Kostin's home in Aspen, Colorado.

The Oil Price Cap permits service providers in Coalition countries to support the Russian oil trade only if the oil was sold at or below a specific cap. A Treasury policy note looks at the difference that the price cap is continuing to make three months into the second phase, as the coalition continues to take action to enforce the prohibition against the use of G7 services outside the cap.