The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has sanctioned 21 Venezuelan officials, including security and cabinet-level leaders aligned with Nicolás Maduro. These actions, pursuant to Executive Order 13692, target individuals for supporting Maduro’s repression of civil society and attempts to declare himself the winner of the July 28 presidential election, despite Edmundo González Urrutia being elected by a significant majority.

Public comments were previously requested via the Federal Register on August 28, 2024, during a 60-day comment period. This notice allows for an additional 30 days for public comments. The Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) is a multilateral arms control treaty that seeks to achieve an international ban on chemical weapons (CW). The CWC prohibits, the use, development, production, acquisition, stockpiling, retention, and direct or indirect transfer of chemical weapons.

TThe Commercial Customs Operations Advisory Committee (COAC) will hold its quarterly meeting on Wednesday, December 11, 2024, from 1:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. Eastern Standard Time (EST) The meeting will be open to the public via webinar only.

Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) published a final rule imposing new controls on exports, reexports, and transfers (in-country) involving six key categories of items – some of which were previously controlled for nuclear nonproliferation reasons – to Pakistan to address diversion concerns.

The Securities and Exchange Commission announced that it filed 583 total enforcement actions in fiscal year 2024 while obtaining orders for $8.2 billion in financial remedies, the highest amount in SEC history. In addition, in fiscal year 2024, the SEC obtained orders barring 124 individuals from serving as officers and directors of public companies, the second-highest number of such bars obtained in a decade.

For a president seeking to impose swift and decisive change to geoeconomic policy, few hammers outweigh the The International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), which provides the President broad authority to regulate a variety of economic transactions following a declaration of national emergency.    With advisers advocating using the act to gut the federal workforce, sweeping tariffs, and even to selectively default on the federal debt, expect the IEEPA to play an outsized role in Trump 2.0.

Nicole M. Argentieri, Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General of the Criminal Division,  highlights the Justice Department’s commitment to transparency in addressing white-collar crime.   In a recent memo she describes an effort to ensure companies understand DOJ expectations, facilitating robust compliance programs that detect and deter misconduct.

A bipartisan group of senators has introduced legislation requiring the U.S. government to assess potential financial threats posed by China.   The China Financial Threat Mitigation Act mandates a detailed analysis of risks from the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) that could significantly impact the U.S. economy. Although similar legislation passed the House last year, the Senate has not yet acted on it. The China Financial Threat Mitigation …

A group of House Ways and Means Committee Democrats unveiled the Prevent Tariff Abuse Act yesterday, seeking to restrict presidential authority to impose tariffs under the guise of national security. The legislation, spearheaded by Democratic Reps. Suzan DelBene (WA-1) and Don Beyer (VA), aims to require Congressional approval before the president can use the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) to levy tariffs.

The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has announced a penalty of $1,104,408 against a U.S. citizen for 75 violations of sanctions targeting Iran. Between 2019 and 2022, they orchestrated a scheme to purchase, renovate, and operate a 19-suite hotel on the Caspian Sea in Iran.

The World Trade Organization (WTO) could play a pivotal role in facilitating trade related to artificial intelligence (AI), while ensuring trustworthy AI use and fostering global regulatory convergence, according to a new report by the WTO Secretariat.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS), on behalf of the Forced Labor Enforcement Task Force (FLETF), announced the addition of 29 companies based in the People’s Republic of China to the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA) Entity List – bringing the total number of entities on the UFLPA Entity List to 107.  The 29 added entities span sectors including agriculture, food processing, and industrial materials.  Twenty-three additional entities in agriculture are cited for sourcing products like tomato paste, walnuts, and raisins from XUAR, with sales traced through online wholesale markets.

United States Trade Representative Katherine Tai announced Friday  that the United States has asked Mexico to review whether workers at Akwel Juárez México, S.A. de C.V., in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico, are being denied the right to freedom of association and collective bargaining. The United States has suspended liquidation of tariffs on goods from the facility, which manufactures auto parts. The request, which was made in response to a petition, marks the thirty-first time the United States has formally invoked the Rapid Response Labor Mechanism (RRM) in the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA).

  An Indian national arrested in Miami was indicted for conspiring to export controlled aviation components with dual civilian and military applications to end users in Russia, in violation of the Export Control Reform Act.   Sanjay Kaushik, 57, is also charged with attempting to illegally export a navigation and flight control system from Oregon to Russia through India, and with making false statements in connection with an export. The November 20 indictment was handed down in the District of Oregon.

 In addition to loyalty to the president-elect,  the president's cabinet nominees appear all to agree with his thinking on geoeconomics and the role of brinksmanship. During the 119th Congress, the Trump administration will be unencumbered by judicial or congressional restraint, and the new team’s stated intent is to make full use of that accommodation.  

Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has announced full blocking sanctions against 118 entities and individuals, including Gazprombank and fifty other banks. Thursday's actions bring it in alignment with allied sanctions on  Gazprombank—the largest bank not previously sanctioned. OFAC’s action includes the designation of Gazprombank, more than 50 internationally connected Russian banks, more than 40 Russian securities registrars, and 15 Russian finance officials.

The State Department's International Security Advisory Board (ISAB) has published three studies: “Report on Biotechnology in the PRC’s Military-Civil Fusion Strategy,” “Report on Multilateral Disarmament Structures,” and “The Limits of Influence: U.S. Security Cooperation in the Age of Strategic Competition.”

A federal indictment unsealed November 20th in Brooklyn charges Indian energy magnates Gautam S. Adani, Sagar R. Adani, and Vneet S. Jaain, along with several other individuals, with orchestrating a multi-billion-dollar bribery and fraud scheme. The case alleges a conspiracy to pay over $250 million in bribes to Indian government officials to secure solar energy contracts, coupled with fraudulent efforts to obtain capital from U.S. and international investors.

Thursday the U.S. House of Representatives overcame Democratic resistance and passed legislation that strips U.S.-based organizations of their tax-exempt status if they are found by the White House to be "materially supporting terrorist organizations." The Stop Terror-Financing and Tax Penalties on American Hostages Act (H.R. 9495) passed 219-184, with 15 Democrats breaking ranks in favor.. While stripping tax subsidies from Jihadists has robust congressional support,  opponents cite apprehensions about the bill’s implications for civil liberties, due process, and the potential for executive overreach.

The Regulations and Procedures Technical Advisory Committee (RPTAC) will meet on December 10, 2024, 9 a.m.-4 p.m., Eastern Daylight Time, in the Herbert C. Hoover Building The Committee advises …