Oregon Democrat Rep.Earl Blumenauer – who has taken an active role in trade legislation – has announced he will not seek reelection.

Deputy US Trade Representative Jayme White is planning to leave his post at the US Trade Representative’s Office effective November 1.

In a coordinated effort with Canada and the United Kingdom, the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control published a new directive Oct. 31 that prohibits certain financial services by US persons to or for the benefit of Myanma Oil and Gas Enterprise, as well as five military regime appointed officials and officers.

The Government Accountability Office released a report Oct. 31 finding that current Agriculture Department restrictions on imports of sugar are both a boon to producers and a burden to consumers. While the current sugar program benefits sugar producers, it yields net costs to the US economy of nearly $1 billion annually, the report found. “The U.S. sugar program creates net costs to the economy, because higher sugar prices created by the program cost consumers more than producers benefit, according to research GAO reviewed,” per the report.

Many World Trade Organization members last week flagged their core priorities for next year’s 13th ministerial conference, cautioning the credibility of the trade body could be lost if it cannot deliver on mandated issues in areas like TRIPS, agriculture and development. At an informal General Council meeting held Wednesday, trade envoys echoed their divergent priorities for the possible deliverables at the MC13.

The International Trade Commission determined Oct. 31 that a US industry is materially injured by reason of imports of paper file folders from China, India, and Vietnam that the Commerce Department has determined are sold in the United States at less than fair value and subsidized by the government of India.

President Biden is calling on Congress to reauthorize and modernize the African Growth and Opportunity Act trade preferences program. The President's endorsement of AGOA comes as top US officials and African ministers are gathering in South Africa for the annual AGOA forum. "I encourage Congress to reauthorize AGOA in a timely fashion and to modernize this important Act for the economic opportunities of the coming decade," the President said.

On the eve of President Biden hosting the first Americas Partnership for Economic Prosperity leaders summit, lawmakers urged the Administration to eliminate investor-state dispute settlement from existing US trade and investment agreements. The APEP regional framework provides an opportunity to remove ISDS from existing trade agreements with Central and Latin American countries.

Customs and Border Protection said it has processed all outstanding imports subject to the Continuing Dumping and Subsidy Offset Act of 2000, otherwise known as the Byrd Amendment. During the period of its implementation of the act, CBP disbursed $3.6 billion of antidumping and countervailing duties to affected domestic producers injured by foreign dumping and subsidies. The recipients included steel manufacturers, shrimp farmers, and honey producers, among others.

US Trade Representative Katherine Tai announced Nov. 2 that Cara Morrow is taking on the position of senior advisor, overseeing close coordination with the Office of Western Hemisphere, the Office of Europe and the Middle East, the Office of Labor Affairs and the Office of Environment and Natural Resources.

The U.S. Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) recently added eight individuals and four entities to its specially designated nationals list in response to the Hamas attacks on Oct. 7.

A bipartisan group of U.S. lawmakers has introduced legislation calling on the Biden administration to impose sanctions on 49 top Hong Kong justice officials and judges for whittling away basic rights.  The Hong Kong Sanctions Act requires the president to determine whether certain Hong Kong officials violated human rights and sanctions should be imposed in accordance with the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act, the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act of 2019, or the Hong Kong Autonomy Act.  

The Financial Action Task Force (FATF), an intergovernmental body that establishes international standards for anti-money laundering, countering the financing of terrorism, and countering the financing of proliferation of weapons of mass destruction (AML/CFT/CPF), issued public statements at the conclusion of its plenary meeting last month that identified jurisdictions with AML/CFT/CPF deficiencies. Additionally, the FATF noted that the Russian Federation’s war of aggression against Ukraine continues to run counter to FATF’s principles, and, thus the suspension of the membership of the Russian Federation continues to stand.

Senate Finance Committee Chair Ron Wyden (D-Ore) praised the Commerce Department for putting in place new policies to prevent the promotion of US surveillance technology to foreign governments in response to his request earlier this year. “For the first time the Department is making clear that the United States will not help companies find foreign markets for products or services that undermine democracy or enable repressive surveillance and discrimination," said Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) applauding the change.

Group of Seven trade ministers concluded a two-day meeting in Osaka with calls for a successful World Trade Organization 13th ministerial conference and cooperation on combating unfair trade practices by China. In a joint statement Sunday, the ministers called for creating a dedicated space at the World Trade Organization to talk about trade and state intervention in industry. The ministers expressed concern about “nonmarket policies and practices” that “are an integral part of comprehensive strategies to pursue global market dominance.”

Congressional China hawks sent a letter to Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo Thursday, calling for the Department  to regulate the open-source collaboration model employed in modern advanced semiconductor design.   Reps. Mike Gallagher (R-WI) and Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL), along with Sen. Marco Rubio and fourteen other lawmakers call for the Commerce Department to “build a robust ecosystem for open-source collaboration among the U.S. and our allies while ensuring the PRC is unable to benefit from that work.”

Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) announced sanctions on a sweeping roster of individuals and entities from People’s Republic of China (PRC), Türkiye, and the United Arab Emirates (the UAE) abetting Russia’s war against Ukraine by providing Russia with technology and equipment from third countries. The U.S. Department of State is also issuing nearly 100 sanctions today targeting Russia’s future energy production and revenue, metals and mining sector, defense procurement, and those involved in supporting the Russian government’s war effort and other malign activities.

The following is a summary of news released in recent weeks by the CBP's Office of Trade Activity.

Representative Chris Smtih (R-NJ) and Senator Jeff Merkley (D-OR) of the bicameral Congressional-Executive Commission on China (CECC) sent letters Oct. 31 inquiring about Costco and ADI's selling of banned products with ties to China.

November 2, the Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) released a rule adding 13 entities to the Entity List for supporting Russia’s military through the procurement, development, and proliferation of Russian unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). Twelve entities being added are in Russia and one is in Uzbekistan.