The U.S. on Feb. 11 announced sanctions and export controls targeting the Myanmar military, defense ministry and security services after it carried out a coup earlier this month (see 2102100060). The White House also issued an executive order outlining a new Myanmar sanctions regime and said more restrictions will be imposed “in the coming days.”
Ian Cohen
Ian Cohen, Deputy Managing Editor, is a reporter with Export Compliance Daily and its sister publications International Trade Today and Trade Law Daily, where he covers export controls, sanctions and international trade issues. He previously worked as a local government reporter in South Florida. Ian graduated with a journalism degree from the University of Florida in 2017 and lives in Washington, D.C. He joined the staff of Warren Communications News in 2019.
The U.S. will impose sanctions this week on foreign officials behind the military coup in Myanmar (see 2102020064), President Joe Biden told reporters Feb. 10. The measures will also include a set of “strong export controls” to impose “consequences” on the leaders of the coup, Biden said. “We’ll be ready to impose additional measures,” he said, “and we’ll continue to work with our international partners to urge other nations to join us in these efforts” (see 2102100012).
The Treasury Department isn’t doing enough to limit the impacts of U.S. sanctions on humanitarian aid to Venezuela, the Government Accountability Office said in a report. Although Treasury has taken steps to mitigate the sanctions’ impact -- including through general licenses and by responding to individual questions about humanitarian aid -- GAO said the agency doesn’t “systematically track and analyze information from these inquiries” to spot trends or repeating issues. “Without collection and analysis of this information,” the GAO said Feb. 4, “Treasury and its interagency partners may be limited in their ability to develop further actions to ensure that U.S. sanctions do not disrupt humanitarian assistance.”
A bipartisan group of lawmakers is hoping to fund an emergency maritime relief program to help unclog port congestion caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and provide relief for U.S. shippers. The Maritime Transportation System Emergency Relief Program, created last year, could provide more resources to terminals that are seeing severe shortages in skilled labor and equipment, and help alleviate the nationwide backups in trucks and container vessels, House members said.
Industry should expect the Biden administration’s review of Trump-era China policies -- including export controls and licensing decisions -- to take two to three months, trade lawyer Peter Lichtenbaum said. He also said the Bureau of Industry and Security will continue to adhere to the Trump administration's strict Huawei licensing policy until it’s changed by incoming political appointees, which has not yet happened.
For weeks, dozens of container ships have dotted the waters of California's San Pedro Bay, waiting to unload at a port experiencing its highest level of congestion in years. With no space to drop their cargo, the ships sit in limbo, further slowing imports and exports and clogging a global trading system that some shippers view as broken.
Princeton University was fined $54,000 and ordered to audit its export control compliance program after committing 37 U.S. export violations, the Bureau of Industry and Security said in a Feb. 1 order. BIS said the university illegally exported “various strains and recombinants” of an animal pathogen, which were controlled for chemical and biological weapons reasons, to overseas research institutions without the required BIS licenses.
Thomas Vilsack, President Joe Biden’s nominee for agriculture secretary, said the agency will prioritize foreign market access for U.S. exporters and secure more trade agreements centered around agriculture. But Vilsack also said increasing competitiveness for U.S. exporters will be challenging, particularly because of the lasting impacts of the Trump administration's unpredictable trade policy.
The U.S. is reviewing its sanctions authorities to impose restrictions on Myanmar officials following a coup by the country’s military earlier this week, a State Department official said Feb. 2. The agency is considering sanctioning the country's military, including senior military officials, and is working with other countries in the region to impose similar restrictions, the official said. “We will take action against those responsible, including through a careful review of our current sanctions posture,” the official told reporters, adding that the sanctions could also target companies with ties to Myanmar’s military.
The European Union wants to work more closely with the U.S. on sanctions and technology issues and is hoping to establish an international trade and technology council to regulate emerging technologies, EU Trade Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis said. Speaking during a Feb. 1 event hosted by the German Marshall Fund, Dombrovskis also called for more EU-U.S. unity on a range of other topics, including reform at the World Trade Organization and measures to counter illegal Chinese trade practices. “This is precisely why we need to put our current trade disputes behind us,” Dombrovskis said, referencing the Boeing/Airbus dispute and U.S. Section 232 tariffs on European steel and aluminum (see 2101270049).