The State Department’s Directorate of Defense Trade Controls on Nov. 29 released its notifications to Congress of recently proposed export licenses. The July through September notices feature arms sales to numerous countries, including Canada, Italy, Qatar, the U.K. and the United Arab Emirates.
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As the U.S. tries to convince allies to adopt similar export controls against China (see 2210270047 and 2210070049), some trading partners have voiced concerns over the U.S.’s strategy, saying they would rather have worked on crafting restrictions alongside the U.S. as opposed to having controls forced upon them, a Commerce Department official said.
The European Council Nov. 28 added sanctions violations to its list of "EU crimes." The move comes amid the EU's bevy of sanctions on Russia following its invasion of Ukraine. The council said "it is essential that these measures are fully implemented," with listing sanctions violations as an EU crime the first of two steps to ensure harmonized sanctions enforcement across the bloc, the council said.
Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., one of the primary movers behind the Chips Act, told an audience that more domains need policymakers' attention so that they don't wake up to find that China has become dominant in an important emerging technology. He noted that before becoming a politician, he "was in the telecommunication space," and said that realizing that China is dominating 5G with two heavily subsidized champion companies was the "final wake-up call" that engagement and deeper trade with China is not the right way to go.
President Joe Biden signed a memorandum this week stating that the administration will use sanctions, as well as other penalties, to respond to “conflict-related sexual violence” (CRSV). The White House said it will look to designate perpetrators of sexual violence crimes associated with conflicts and give those designations “equal consideration alongside other serious human rights abuses.”
The Treasury Department fined U.S. crypto exchange Kraken $362,158.70 for violating U.S. sanctions against Iran, the agency said this week. Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control said Kraken, also known as Payward, exported services to users who “appeared to be” in Iran and allows them to conduct virtual currency transactions on Kraken’s platform. The violations stemmed from Kraken’s "failure to timely implement appropriate geolocation tools, including an automated [internet protocol] address blocking system," OFAC said.
The U.S. will allow Chevron to resume certain oil activities in Venezuela, giving the California-based energy company a “limited” license to pump oil in the sanctioned country for the first time in years. The license, which the White House believes will have a minimal impact on Venezuela's oil shipments, was issued in an effort to support the newly restarted negotiations between President Nicolas Maduro’s regime and the country’s opposition party, the Treasury Department said. It also comes amid opposition from U.S. Republicans, who warned the administration that a license would only offer the Maduro regime sanctions relief and undermine prospects for the return of democracy to Venezuela (see 2211020032, 2210280032 and 2210060014).
The EU last week released the draft agenda for its annual export control forum. The forum, scheduled for Dec. 6, will feature speakers from the Bureau of Industry and Security and panels on emerging technologies, Russia's invasion of Ukraine, multilateral restrictions and more.
A Chinese invasion of Taiwan, or any other type of “conflict” initiated against the island by Beijing, would have “immediate and dramatically negative effects on China’s ability to import and export goods” and would spur a range of international sanctions, the Center for Strategic and International Studies said in a Nov. 22 report. CSIS said the U.S. and other Western countries would impose strict sanctions and export controls against China, which would “probably persist for months or perhaps years after a conflict, even if U.S. military forces are defeated” in the case of a war.