For weeks, dozens of container ships have dotted the waters of California's San Pedro Bay, waiting to unload at a port experiencing its highest level of congestion in years. With no space to drop their cargo, the ships sit in limbo, further slowing imports and exports and clogging a global trading system that some shippers view as broken.
Ian Cohen
Ian Cohen, Deputy Managing Editor, is a reporter with Export Compliance Daily and its sister publications International Trade Today and Trade Law Daily, where he covers export controls, sanctions and international trade issues. He previously worked as a local government reporter in South Florida. Ian graduated with a journalism degree from the University of Florida in 2017 and lives in Washington, D.C. He joined the staff of Warren Communications News in 2019.
The U.S. is reviewing its sanctions authorities to impose restrictions on Myanmar officials following a coup by the country’s military earlier this week, a State Department official said Feb. 2. The agency is considering sanctioning the country's military, including senior military officials, and is working with other countries in the region to impose similar restrictions, the official said. “We will take action against those responsible, including through a careful review of our current sanctions posture,” the official told reporters, adding that the sanctions could also target companies with ties to Myanmar’s military.
Princeton University was fined $54,000 and ordered to audit its export control compliance program after committing 37 U.S. export violations, the Bureau of Industry and Security said in a Feb. 1 order. BIS said the university illegally exported “various strains and recombinants” of an animal pathogen, which were controlled for chemical and biological weapons reasons, to overseas research institutions without the required BIS licenses.
Thomas Vilsack, President Joe Biden’s nominee for agriculture secretary, said the agency will prioritize foreign market access for U.S. exporters and secure more trade agreements centered around agriculture. But Vilsack also said increasing competitiveness for U.S. exporters will be challenging, particularly because of the lasting impacts of the Trump administration's unpredictable trade policy.
The European Union wants to work more closely with the U.S. on sanctions and technology issues and is hoping to establish an international trade and technology council to regulate emerging technologies, EU Trade Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis said. Speaking during a Feb. 1 event hosted by the German Marshall Fund, Dombrovskis also called for more EU-U.S. unity on a range of other topics, including reform at the World Trade Organization and measures to counter illegal Chinese trade practices. “This is precisely why we need to put our current trade disputes behind us,” Dombrovskis said, referencing the Boeing/Airbus dispute and U.S. Section 232 tariffs on European steel and aluminum (see 2101270049).
A Chinese consumer electronics company asked a federal U.S. court to block the Treasury and Defense departments from imposing restrictions on the company after it said it was falsely labeled as having ties to the Chinese military. In a Jan. 29 lawsuit, Beijing-based Xiaomi Corp. said its designation as a Chinese military company by both agencies had no “factual basis,” adding that it could face “irreparable harm” from the designation.
More foreign investors are opting to submit a filing with the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. out of an abundance of caution, even when there is no mandatory filing requirement, George Grammas, a trade lawyer with Squire Patton, said. Grammas said “sophisticated” investors are especially likely to file before the investment is complete, particularly as CFIUS continues a trend of reviewing years-old investments.
The U.S.’s decision to rejoin the Iran nuclear deal and rescind Iranian sanctions would be complex and time-consuming, likely taking months of bureaucratic work and negotiations, sanctions and Iran experts said. The new President Joe Biden administration has a range of Iranian-related sanctions issues to tackle before rejoining the agreement, the experts said, such as which Iranian entities and officials to de-list, whether to endorse Europe’s INSTEX and how to address humanitarian exports to Iran.
Linda Thomas-Greenfield, President Joe Biden’s nominee to be U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, said she would support sanctions against China and will lead an effort to stop the country from taking over international standards-setting bodies. She said she also will take aggressive measures to counter China’s growing role at the United Nations and its human rights violations. “I see that as my highest priority,” she told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Jan. 27 during confirmation proceedings.
The Bureau of Industry and Security fined a California business owner $540,000 and suspended his export privileges after he allegedly caused false information to be submitted on controlled exports to Russia, BIS said Jan. 27. The agency said Julian Demurjian, who owned CIS Project, violated the Export Administration Regulations when he provided false values for exports of telecommunication equipment controlled for national security, encryption and anti-terrorism reasons.