The Biden administration has not made a decision yet on whether to repeal the sanctions relief it granted Venezuela in October, a senior administration official said during a Dec. 20 call with reporters. “The sanctions relief has not shifted,” the official said, adding that the U.S. won't reimpose the sanctions as long as “progress towards competitive elections” continues.
A former State Department official who advised on sanctions and money laundering, who also is a co-founder of Sayari Labs, a financial intelligence and commercial data provider, said that Hudson Institute will produce a paper on creating a broad sanctions program for China, complete with the kind of language that would allow it to be executive-order ready.
The State Department recently added Mohamed Ali Nkalubo and Ahmed Mahamud Hassan Aliyani as Specially Designated Global Terrorists. Both are leaders of the Islamic State group in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The State Department recently imposed sanctions on three Chinese companies for contributing to the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, including ballistic missiles. The sanctions, which were imposed in October and published by the State Department in the Federal Register this week, target General Technology Limited, Beijing Luo Luo Technology Development Co. Ltd. and Changzhou Utek Composite Company Ltd. All “property and interests in property” of those companies in the U.S. are blocked.
President Joe Biden extended a national emergency that authorizes certain sanctions against human rights abuses and corruption, the White House said Dec. 18. The “prevalence” of human rights violations and corruption continues to threaten U.S. security, the White House said. The emergency was extended for one year beyond Dec. 20.
The leaders of the House Select Committee on China urged the Biden administration on Dec. 14 to sanction Chinese and Hong Kong officials who are responsible for a new crackdown on pro-democracy activists.
A new blog post from the Treasury Department highlights the impacts that U.S. sanctions and export controls are having on Russia’s economy, outlining how the country’s “macroeconomic performance is suffering” and its policy responses to Western sanctions are “growing increasingly expensive.” The blog describes some of the issues that have contributed to Russia’s contracting economy, its difficulty in sourcing parts and components for its military, the “volatility” of its exchange rate and more. Russia has the resources to “maintain its war in the short-term,” Treasury said, but “its leaders face increasingly painful trade[-]offs that will sacrifice long-term prospects -- as underinvestment, slow productivity growth, and labor shortages will only deepen.”
The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week sanctioned Mexico-based Malas Manas, a transnational human smuggling and drug trafficking group, and Luis Eduardo Roman Flores and Joel Alexandro Salazar Ballesteros, two human smugglers. OFAC said the group smuggles people from Latin America across the U.S. Southwest border and into Arizona, and also smuggles weapons and narcotics into the U.S., including fentanyl, cocaine and methamphetamine. Roman Flores and Salazar Ballesteros both work on behalf of Malas Manas.
The U.S. and the U.K. on Dec. 14 announced a coordinated set of sanctions targeting senior Iranian military officials, including those supporting the “terrorist activities” of Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
The U.S. and the U.K. this week announced new sanctions against members of the Hamas terror group, designating “key officials” who represent the group abroad and manage its finances. The Office of Foreign Assets Control said the designations were “closely coordinated” with the U.K.’s Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation and are aimed at disrupting Hamas fundraising campaigns designed to funnel revenue to Hamas military activities in Gaza.