Recently passed U.K. legislation gives the country’s top sanctions agency greater intelligence-gathering and enforcement powers, Crowell & Moring said in a November client alert, and could allow it to process license applications more efficiently.
The incoming Trump administration likely will end the Biden administration’s temporary pause on pending decisions for liquefied natural gas exports, Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., said late Nov. 13.
Rep. Dina Titus, D-Nev., introduced a resolution last week urging the Biden administration to pause further transfers or sales of U.S.-made fighter jets to Turkey. Titus criticized Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan for making statements threatening Israel and supporting the terrorist group Hamas in its war on Israel. The measure was referred to the House Foreign Affairs Committee. The State Department formally notified Congress in January that it approved Turkey’s request to buy 40 new F-16s and modernize 79 existing ones for a total of $23 billion (see 2401290067).
Recent Chinese sanctions against American drone-maker Skydio will limit the company’s battery supply, the firm’s CEO said this week, calling the restrictions an “attempt to eliminate the leading American drone company and deepen the world’s dependence on Chinese drone suppliers.”
China announced sanctions this week on three U.S. companies that supply the defense industry -- Edge Autonomy, Huntington Ingalls Industries and Skydio -- along with 10 defense industry executives for their ties to arms sales to Taiwan, according to an unofficial translation of a notice from the country’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The designations target employees from those three firms along with Sierra Nevada, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman and other defense companies. The ministry said the sanctions freeze their assets in China, and people and entities in China are blocked from “conducting relevant transactions” with them.
A Russian oligarch’s attempt to dispute EU sanctions freezing his funds failed in an EU appellate court last week.
China last week announced sanctions against nine American defense companies and their senior executives for arms sales to Taiwan. The measures, taken under China’s anti-foreign sanctions law (see 2309270039 and 2310230032), target Sierra Nevada, S3 Aerospace Defense, ACT1 Federal, Cubic Corp. and others, according to an unofficial translation of a Sept. 18 notice from the country’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The ministry said the sanctions freeze those companies’ assets in China, and Chinese companies will be barred from doing certain business with their executives.
The EU General Court on Sept. 11 rejected the Russian National Settlement Depository's challenge to its listing on the Russian sanctions list. The court said that the European Council didn't fail to show that the depository, which provides financial services and securities record-keeping and custody services, plays an "essential role in the functioning of Russia's financial system."
Defense firm RTX Corp. will pay $200 million to settle alleged violations of U.S. defense export controls, the largest standalone export penalty ever issued by the State Department. RTX voluntarily disclosed the 750 violations, the agency said in a charging letter, most of which involved “historical” issues by an aerospace firm acquired by RTX in 2018.
China last week imposed sanctions against U.S. Rep. Jim McGovern, D-Mass., for frequently making "remarks and actions that interfere in China's internal affairs and undermine China's sovereignty, security and development interests," China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced, according to an unofficial translation. The ministry said it will impose an asset freeze and travel ban on McGovern.