US Extends Sanctions on Transnational Criminal Organizations

The U.S. is extending a national emergency to continue sanctions on “transnational criminal organizations” for one year, the White House said in a July 22 press release. Under the authority of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, the sanctions target criminal organizations that threaten “international political and economic systems,” some of which are “entrenched in the operations of foreign governments and the international financial system,” the press release said. The organizations “continue to pose an unusual and extraordinary threat,” the White House said. The first executive order declaring this national emergency was on July 24, 2011.