Sanctions

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During the month of May while President Donald Trump’s escalating trade war with China was garnering most of the headlines, the Trump administration also continued to apply economic pressure on Venezuela. In May, the Departments of Commerce, State and the Treasury further tightened sanctions and export restrictions on Venezuela.

On May 10, 2019, the Department of State announced that, pursuant to Executive Order 13850, the United States determined persons operating in the defense and security sector of the Venezuelan economy may be subject to economic sanctions. On the same date, the Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctioned two companies that operate in the oil sector of the Venezuelan economy, and also sanctioned two vessels, which transported oil from Venezuela to Cuba:

  • Monsoon Navigation Corporation is based in Majuro, Marshall Islands, and is the registered owner of the vessel, Ocean Elegance.
    • Ocean Elegance is a crude oil tanker (IMO: 9038749) that delivered crude oil from Venezuela to Cuba from late 2018 through March 2019.
  • Serenity Maritime Limited is based in Monrovia, Liberia, and is the registered owner of the vessel, Leon Dias.
    • Leon Dias is a chemical and oil tanker (IMO: 9396385) that delivered crude oil from Venezuela to Cuba from late 2018 through March 2019.

Continue Reading Trump Administration Further Tightens Economic Sanctions and Trade Restrictions on Venezuela

President Donald J. Trump has issued an executive order, “Securing the Information and Communications Technology and Services Supply Chain,” that declares a national emergency as to the threats against information and communications technology and services in the United States. It delegates authority to the secretary of Commerce to prohibit transactions posing an unacceptable risk to the national security of the United States or the security and safety of U.S. persons. In a brief press statement, the White House noted, “The President has made it clear that this Administration will do what it takes to keep America safe and prosperous, and to protect America from foreign adversaries who are actively and increasingly creating and exploiting vulnerabilities in information and communications technology infrastructure and services in the United States.”
Continue Reading President Trump Issues Executive Order on Information Security; Huawei Technologies to Be Placed on “Entity List”

President Donald Trump has announced further action against Iran by imposing sanctions on its iron, steel, aluminum and copper sectors, the country’s largest non-petroleum-related sources of export revenue. In an executive order, the president implemented blocking sanctions on any person determined by the secretary of the Treasury, in consultation with the secretary of State,…

In a series of actions on April 17, the Trump administration announced the implementation of additional sanctions on the “Troika of Tyranny” in the Western Hemisphere (see Trump and Trade Update of November 16, 2018). President Donald J. Trump and his National Security Advisor John Bolton have long held that Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua…

On April 9, 2019, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) announced a $639,023,750 settlement with Standard Chartered Bank (SCB), a UK-based financial institution, over potential civil liability related to alleged violations of the now-repealed U.S. economic sanctions on Burma and Sudan and the continuing sanctions on Cuba, Iran and…

In recent weeks the U.S. government has taken two notable steps to further sanction and pressure the Islamic Republic of Iran. On March 26, 2019, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) took action against 25 individuals and entities by placing them on the Specially Designated Nationals (SDN) List. This…

In his second State of the Union address to Congress, President Donald Trump noted that he campaigned on several core promises, including “to defend American jobs and demand fair trade for American workers.” He argued that his administration has “moved with urgency and historic speed to confront problems neglected by leaders of both parties over…

With the 35-day partial federal government shutdown ending on January 26, 2019, the U.S. government’s trade-oriented agencies have reopened and are beginning to work through massive backlogs of work as personnel resume full-time operations. What follows is a listing of the current operational status of many of these agencies:

U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP)…

The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) unsealed two separate indictments on Monday, January 28, 2019, charging Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei with 23 counts of criminal activity. In the Eastern District of New York (EDNY), a 13-count indictment was released charging four defendants affiliated with Huawei. In the indictment, Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd., Huawei Device USA Inc., Skycom Tech Co. Ltd. (Skycom) and Huawei’s Chief Financial Officer Wanzhou Meng were charged with a variety of crimes, including bank fraud, conspiracy to commit bank fraud, wire fraud and violations of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), which serves as the statutory authority for the Iranian Transactions Sanctions Regulations (ITSR). In the Western District of Washington, the second unsealed indictment charges Huawei Device Co., Ltd. and Huawei Device USA, Inc. with 10 counts of theft of trade secrets conspiracy, attempted theft of trade secrets, wire fraud and obstruction of justice where Huawei employees were allegedly encouraged to steal technology from T-Mobile USA, Inc., a large U.S. telecommunications company.
Continue Reading Chinese Telecom Giant Huawei Charged with Substantive Sanctions Violations; 23 Total Criminal Charges Overall