Global Trade & Foreign Policy Insights

The European Union (EU) formally adopted an eleventh package of sanctions against Russia on June 23, 2023. This package focuses on preventing the circumvention of existing measures and includes a new anti-circumvention tool, new designations, additional import and export control bans and restrictions, new measures related to transport, tighter measures related to energy, clarification on existing measures, and additional media broadcasting bans.

The Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States recently issued two new frequently-asked-questions on its website. The new FAQs provide additional guidance on (1) timing for mandatory filings and (2) ownership disclosure requirements for investment funds. CFIUS does not have many FAQs—and they are not frequently updated—so the new FAQs are particularly noteworthy and provide helpful insight into the areas where CFIUS is most focused.

On May 19, 2023, in coordination with the G7 summit in Japan, the U.S. announced new economic sanctions and export controls designed to further restrict the Russian Federation’s (Russia) ability to prosecute its invasion of Ukraine.

In light of the recent wave of sanctions against Russia issued by the United States (see Winston & Strawn’s post here), the European Union (“EU”) issued a tenth package of Russia sanctions on February 25, 2023. 

Since the start of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022, the United States (U.S.)—in partnership with the European Union (EU), the Group of Seven (G7),[1] and other Western countries— have designated 9,025 individuals, 2,636 entities, 119 vessels, and 22 aircraft.[2] In the U.S., the sanctions program against Russia has been codified into law by 31 CFR part 587 (the “Russian Harmful Foreign Activities Sanctions Regulations” or “RuHSR”), its amendments, declarations made by the Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), and executive orders (E.O.) by the Biden administration.

Right before the end of the year, on December 16, 2022, the EU adopted the ninth package of sanctions against Russia. This new package includes additional designations, export control restrictions, additional service and media bans, and new sectoral measures targeting the Russian energy and mining sectors.

On October 6, 2022, the EU agreed to implement a new package of Russia sanctions in response to Russia’s annexation of the Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia regions, its mobilization of additional troops, and nuclear threats.

On August 17, 2022, the U.S. Trade Representative (“USTR”) released an 11-point negotiation mandate to facilitate formalized trade negotiations between the U.S. and Taiwan (the “Mandate”). In time, the PRC will respond to the increased cooperation between the U.S. and Taiwan with more than mere rhetoric, flyovers, and a weeklong naval blockade.

Companies in a variety of industries are preparing for enforcement of the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (“UFLPA”), which went into effect on June 21, 2022. Those working in UFLPA high-risk industries have expressed justifiable concern about enforcement, conducting diligence on opaque and complex supply chains, and the volume of evidence required to prove forced labor was not used in a production cycle. This article provides an overview of the steps and challenges companies face while handling UFLPA compliance.

ACI held its annual CFIUS conference from April 27 to 28 in Washington, D.C., bringing together practitioners and government officials to discuss a range of CFIUS topics. On the government side, the two-day event involved significant participation by the Department of Defense (DoD), which was represented by officials on a majority of the panels. The following are the key takeaways.

Since Russia’s recognition of the non-government-controlled areas of Donetsk and Luhansk, and the subsequent invasion of Ukraine, the EU has enacted additional restrictive measures to be added to those already-existing restrictions targeting Russia.

On January 12, 2022, Democratic Senator Robert Menendez introduced the Defending Ukraine Sovereignty Act of 2022 (S.3488), with 38 cosponsors. On the same day, House Republicans submitted a similar bill, illustrating a significant amount of bipartisan support for the issue.

On December 7, 2021, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) released a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM or proposed rule) to implement the beneficial ownership information reporting requirements set forth in Section 6403(a) of the Corporate Transparency Act (CTA), which was enacted as part of the National Defense Authorization Act of Fiscal Year 2021 (NDAA).

There is no doubt that United States regulators and government agencies have been paying close attention to the virtual currency industry over the past several years. In the past few months, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) issued two publications highlighting its growing focus on the virtual currency industry

The Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) has released an interim final rule which allows U.S. companies to provide Huawei with certain technology subject to the U.S. Export Administration Regulations (EAR) for the development of technological standards (e.g., standards for 5G wireless telecommunication). The Federal Register notice containing this interim final rule is expected to be published on June 18, 2020, and the rule will take effect upon publication.

According to news articles, the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) is reviewing the two-year-old acquisition of Musical.ly, now part of TikTok, over national security concerns regarding China’s access to sensitive personal data of the app’s users.

On Thursday, October 24, 2019, Behrooz Behroozian, of Columbus, Ohio, pleaded guilty to all counts as alleged for violation of U.S. sanctions on Iran.

Merely a week after sanctioning various departments of the Turkish government over actions related to the conflict in Syria, the U.S. government has now removed such sanctions.

The Administration tightened export regulations regarding Cuba, effective October 21, 2019. The changes are generally targeted at Cuban government-owned enterprises, and according to the Commerce Department press release are intended to “hold the Cuban regime accountable for its repression of the Cuban people and its support for the Maduro regime in Venezuela.”