Senate Finance Committee Chair Ron Wyden (D-Ore) and ranking Republican Mike Crapo (Idaho) unveiled legislation last week to boost US exports of specialty crops. The bill would make key improvements to the Agriculture Department’s annual US Specialty Crops Trade Issues Report, in order to more effectively identify and combat unreasonable trade barriers to US exports.

Aircraft parts suppliers to the Maduro Regime and Indian semiconductor distributors trading with Russia were the subject of regulatory actions last week, while Uncle Xi's promise of help with our Fentanyl problem got a state forensic lab off the blacklist.

The  OFAC-OFSI Enhanced Partnership , UK Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation (OFSI) and the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) marked  …

  Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) is issuing Venezuela-related General License 8M, "Authorizing Transactions Involving Petróleos de Venezuela, S.A. (PdVSA) Necessary for the Limited Maintenance of Essential Operations in Venezuela or the Wind Down of Operations in Venezuela for Certain Entities," and Venezuela-related General License 45A, "Authorizing Certain Transactions Involving Consorcio Venezolano de Industrias Aeronáuticas y Servicios Aéreos, S.A."  Additionally, OFAC is publishing an updated, related document "Frequently Asked Questions Related to the Suspension of Certain U.S. Sanctions with Respect to Venezuela on October 18, 2023."

The U.S. Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) is issuing an OFAC Compliance Communiqué: Guidance for the Provision of Humanitarian Assistance to the Palestinian People in response to questions from the NGO community and the general public on how to provide humanitarian assistance while complying with OFAC sanctions. Neither Gaza nor the West Bank are subject to jurisdiction-based sanctions or an embargo by OFAC.  Further, OFAC authorizes limited transactions with blocked persons to the extent such dealings are ordinarily incident and necessary to certain humanitarian activity,

Export-Import Bank of the United States announced a proposed transaction to assist in the rebuilding of Ukraine's rail network, and funds to build an electric airplane factory in Vermont. The …

The Department of State last week officially announced the Bureau of Arms Control, Deterrence, and Stability (ADS), the new name of the Bureau of Arms Control, Verification and Compliance. This …

Congress should consider creating a single export licensing system to strengthen export controls on China, the US-China Economic and Security Review Commission said in its annual report to Congress released last week. In its report, the commission urged Congress to consider a number of steps to make it more difficult for China to evade US controls. First, the report recommends that Congress hold hearings to evaluate the potential for establishing a single export licensing system.

FMCSA amends the regulations pertaining to financial responsibility requirements for brokers of property and freight forwarders in five separate areas: assets “readily available”; immediate suspension of broker/freight forwarder operating authority; surety or trust responsibilities in cases of broker/freight forwarder financial failure or insolvency; enforcement authority; and entities eligible to provide trust funds for brokers and freight forwarders, which are filed using Form BMC-85, Broker’s or Freight Forwarder’s Trust Fund Agreement under 49 U.S.C. 13906 or Notice of Cancellation of the Agreement.

The House Financial Services Committee passed 11 bills last week sanctioning Iran and Hamas, in response to the Tehran's role in funding Hamas militants responsible for the Oct. 7 attacks on Israel. Some bills sought to rein in the Biden administration's dealings with the Iranian regime. Others were meant to "ensure that any humanitarian assistance to Iran is not used to finance acts of terror," according to a press release from the committee. It remains to be seen if House Leadership has the discipline and motivation to bring the bills to a successful resolution in any measurable period of time.

A group of moderate Democrats last week presented President Biden with their ideas for a trade policy plan aimed maintaining US leadership in the global marketplace that includes a return to negotiating bilateral trade agreements – an approach eschewed by the Administration.

The Senate has overturned President Biden’s decision to waive some Buy American requirements for government funded electric vehicle charging stations, despite a White House veto threat. The Senate has overturned President Biden’s decision to waive some Buy American requirements for government funded electric vehicle charging stations, despite a White House veto threat. The measure responds to a Federal Highway Administration ruling in February allowing the waiver of Buy American until July 2024, so that EV charger acquisition and installation could begin immediately. …

House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul (R-Texas) wants to know the reasoning behind the Administration’s decision to lift sanctions on the Maduro regime in Venezuela. “The regime will enrich itself from this Administration’s sanctions relief while the Venezuelan people remain without a viable path for free and fair elections,” he wrote.

 The domino effect of the US pullout of its proposals on cross-border transfer of data, location of computing facilities and source code seems to have begun in the informal Joint Statement Initiative on electronic commerce negotiations, after facilitators issued a text that apparently lowers the level of ambition substantially to pave the way for an agreement in name only, said people familiar with the discussions. The three facilitators comprising Japan, Australia and Singapore issued a “facilitators’ text” on Monday that seeks to find “a landing zone that bridges the different approaches reflected in existing proposals.”

Assistant Secretary Matthew Axelrod of the Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security and Assistant Attorney General Matthew Olsen of the Justice Department’s National Security …

OFAC settled with daVinci Payments Nov. 6 for its violations of sanctions with Crimea, Cuba, Iran and Syria.

The Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division (ENRD) is prioritizing the investigation and prosecution of timber trafficking offenses, including through the recent creation of the TIMBER Enforcement Working Group. This has led to the largest-ever fine for timber trafficking, restitution to foreign countries for illegally sourced timber and insight into how trafficking works.

Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Export Administration Thea Kendler held a briefing November 6 to discuss the rules issued October 17th. She explained the new parameters, associated license requirements, the new notified advanced computing license exception, and some of the measures put into place to address possible circumvention of the controls.

The Justice Department’s Antitrust Division and the Federal Trade Commission participated in the G7 Competition Authorities and Policymakers’ Summit today to discuss the ways in which …

Customs and Border Protection (CBP) will conduct a National Customs Automation Program test regarding the electronic issuance of demands on surety for certain kinds of claims, the “Electronic Issuance of Demands on Surety” (EIDS) test. Test participation is limited to sureties that receive the “Notice of Penalty or Liquidated Damages Incurred and Demand for Payment” (CBP Form 5955A) for claims for liquidated damages or penalties. CBP has begun development of an electronic liquidated damages and penalty process, and this notice announces the first test of a feature of the new process. The electronic liquidated damages and penalty process is intended to enhance, but not necessarily replace, the current paper process.