The United States announced new listings of four Nicaraguan, four Guatemalan, three Honduran, and three Salvadoran individuals under the Section 353 Corrupt and Undemocratic Actors report.  …

The Administration imposed sanctions on 10 entities and four individuals in order to disrupt a procurement network across the Middle East and East Asia supporting Iran’s unmanned aerial vehicle production. Being targeted by the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control December 19 are entities and individuals based in Iran, Malaysia, Hong Kong and Indonesia.

The Treasury Department announced it has published public comments received on the draft Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development/G20 Inclusive Framework Multilateral Convention to Implement Amount A of Pillar One and accompanying documents. Pillar One aims to tax corporate profits to countries based on customer location, not the entity's legal domicile.

The comprehensive income tax treaty between the United States and Chile entered into force yesterday, according to the Treasury Department. The Chile tax treaty is the first new comprehensive bilateral tax treaty signed by the United States to enter into force in over ten years. The treaty will reduce tax-related barriers to cross-border investments between the United States and Chile and is only the second US comprehensive bilateral tax treaty in force with a South American country.

The European Union has agreed to extend a tariffs cease fire with the United States to give the two sides more time to negotiate a global arrangement on steel trade. Brussels and Washington now will have until March 31, 2025 to reach a deal without having to worry about reimposition of tariffs the EU imposed on US products in response to Washington’s imposition of Section 232 tariffs on global steel and aluminum imports.

A World Trade Organization dispute settlement panel report has found that Türkiye acted inconsistently with its WTO obligations by imposing additional duties on certain imports from the United States.   Türkiye had imposed the duties on US goods in response to the Section 232 duties adopted by the United States in 2018 on imports of steel and aluminum products on national security grounds. The United States filed a dispute against Türkiye’s duties, arguing that Section 232 is a national security measure, and therefore its use does not fall under WTO rules.

FinCEN has determined entities which will be permitted access to the new centralized register of beneficial ownership being established under the Corporate Transparency Act.    FinCEN will permit certain Federal, State, local, and Tribal officials, as well as foreign officials acting through a Federal agency, to obtain BOI, as well as financial institutions with customer due diligence requirements under applicable law to have access to BOI from the new centralized database.

The European Council adopted Monday a twelfth package of economic and individual restrictive measures in view of the continued Russian war of aggression against Ukraine.

 The United States announced the resolution of another USMCA Rapid Response Labor Mechanism (RRM) dispute at a  Caterpillar, Inc. subsidiary in Nuevo Laredo, that produces remanufactured auto parts. The plant's workers remain on strike. After the United States requested Mexico’s review of the matter, Mexico and the company took several actions to address the denials of rights the United States found, including actions to reinstate dismissed workers and correct other employer interference in union activities.

The U.S. Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) announced a $466,200 settlement with Privilege Underwriters Reciprocal Exchange (PURE). PURE agreed to settle its potential civil liability for 39 apparent violations of OFAC's Ukraine-/Russia-Related sanctions. Based in White Plains, New York, PURE primarily offers insurance policies and coverages for luxury homes, automobiles, art collections, jewelry, and watercraft

Friday, the President signed a new Russia-related Executive Order advising financial institutions and payments processors that "Foreign financial institutions that conduct or facilitate significant transactions or provide any service involving Russia’s military-industrial base run the risk of being sanctioned by OFAC." Under these new authorities, OFAC can impose full blocking sanctions on, or prohibit or restrict the maintenance of correspondent accounts in the United States for, foreign financial institutions.

Goods imported into the UK from countries with a lower or no carbon price will have to pay a levy by 2027, ensuring products from overseas face a comparable carbon price to those produced in the UK.  The carbon border adjustment mechanism (CBAM) will ensure highly traded, carbon intensive products from overseas in the iron, steel, aluminium, fertiliser, hydrogen, ceramics, glass and cement sectors face a comparable carbon price to those produced here.

In coordination with Treasury and Justice, the State Departemnt  named three Chinese firms for the proliferation ofthe proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and the means of delivering them. The three firms, based in Hong Kong, Beijing and Changzhou, respectively were cited by the Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security added the entities to the the list of Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons.

Operation Car Wash, the wide ranging graft case involving Petrobras officials and the commodity trading community snared another trophy culprit. Stamford, Connecticut based Freepoint Commodities agreed to pay the DOJ $98 million to resolve an investigation into bribery of Brazilian government officials. The firm has also agreed to pay more than $7.6 million to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission in a related matter.

The year-end meeting of the World Trade Organization’s General Council appears to have kicked the can on several mandated issues for trade ministers to decide at the upcoming 13th ministerial conference, raising serious questions on the utility of the GC meetings to find any solutions or compromises, said people familiar with the discussions.

World Trade Organization members have agreed to a 3.6% percent hike in the WTO’s regular budget for 2024, an increase of about CHF 7.09 million (approximately $7.1 million) from CHF 197.2 million in 2023 to approximately CHF 204.29 million in 2024. A separate proposal for increased contribution to the WTO Pension fund of CHF 4.4 million (around $4.5 million) was turned down by India, Indonesia and Russia till the Secretariat carries out substantial reforms, said people familiar with the development.

As World Trade Organization members struggle to advance outcomes for the 13th ministerial conference scheduled to take place in two months, the General Council met last week for three days of intensive discussions. The conflicting narratives and goals on fisheries subsidies, agriculture, dispute settlement system reform and issues concerning development among others, may not augur well any likely concrete outcome at the MC13, said several people preferring not to be quoted.

A bipartisan group of senators are calling on the Administration to put a halt to a surge in steel imports from Mexico. In a letter to National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, the senators demanded the Administration set a clear deadline for Mexico to enforce the steel agreement reached with the United States in 2019. That agreement set quotas for Mexican steel and aluminum in place of the global Section 232 tariffs imposed by the Trump Administration.

The United States is once again asking the Mexican government to review worker rights violations at a automotive plant under the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement’s rapid response labor mechanism. The latest request is for Mexico to look at whether workers at the Fujikura Automotive Mexico facility in Piedras Negras in the state of Coahuila are being denied the right to freedom of association and collective bargaining, including through the company blacklisting or otherwise retaliating against workers because of union activity at their prior employer, Manufacturas VU. …

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen is hoping for better communication with China next year in order to avoid major disputes, but also to make sure Beijing is aware of US concerns about its unfair economic practices. In remarks on the US-China economic relationship delivered at the US-China Business Council, Ms. Yellen laid out her priorities for the bilateral relationship.