The Office of Foreign Assets Control issued two new general licenses Aug. 23 that authorize imports of Russian diamonds and diamond jewelry that were located outside the country when a current ban on imports of such goods took effect.
CBP is seeking feedback on the information that the agency intends to collect in ACE to enforce import bans on Russian seafood and diamonds.
A united front and better data analysis are key to ensuring that imported seafood is lawfully produced and harvested, representatives from CBP, the FDA, the Department of Labor and NOAA Fisheries said when discussing the next steps for NOAA's Seafood Import Monitoring Program (SIMP) during a July 30 webinar hosted by the Stimson Center think tank.
The Treasury Department made a range of updates to its Cuba sanctions regulations this week, including one change that will allow U.S. banks to open accounts for certain Cuban nationals and authorize payments to those Cuban nationals for imports to the U.S. of certain goods and services.
The Treasury Department announced on April 12 that it will add Russian-origin aluminum, copper and nickel to existing import bans on Russian goods, which already cover Russian jewelry and seafood. The ban applies to all aluminum, copper and nickel of Russian origin produced on or after April 13.
Starting March 1, non-industrial diamonds of 1 carat or greater, mined in Russia but with another country of origin cannot be entered into the U.S., whether by import or into a foreign-trade zone, unless the Office of Foreign Assets Control licensed that import.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control on Jan. 18 updated guidance related to an expanded ban on imports of Russian seafood announced in December (see 2312220007). The update to OFAC’s frequently asked question adds several new tariff subheadings to the lists of tariff provisions for pollock and other seafood to which the ban may apply.
The inability of CBP to stop all goods made with Uyghur forced labor was one of the focuses of a trade hearing hosted on Staten Island by the House Ways and Means Committee, and when committee Chairman Jason Smith, R-Mo., asked a witness what more could be done to crack down, Uyghur activist Nury Turkel said the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act should be expanded to cover all of China.
Twenty-seven House Republicans, led by Rep. Jim Banks of Indiana, asked CBP to defend its implementation of the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act, in light of a recent report from the Uyghur Human Rights Project (see 2209060033). They asked if any red jujube dates from Xinjiang have entered the U.S. since June 21, and if so, how many shipments have done so.
Teak imports from Myanmar continue to flow into the U.S. despite sanctions on the state-owned Myanmar Timber Enterprise, Justice for Myanmar said in a recent report. The Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctioned MTE in April, making transactions with the company illegal. "[I]mporters in the US are purchasing timber from private companies that are acting as brokers in Myanmar," the activist group said. Such importers are effectively "evading sanctions by not buying directly from MTE." OFAC didn't comment on the report. A CBP spokesperson said the agency works with OFAC "to address sanctions related to Myanmar." CBP "conducts intelligence, research and analysis" to prevent such imports," he said. The agency's enforcement efforts are coordinated with "U.S. government trade policy and law enforcement agencies." CBP also "implements, with significant input from the trade community, distribution chain management programs to better identify and facilitate known legitimate imports, leaving more resources to focus on higher risk shipments."