The Forced Labor Enforcement Task Force (FLETF), released an updated Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA) Strategy to Prevent the Importation of Goods Mined, Produced, or Manufactured with Forced Labor in the People’s Republic of China (PRC). Notably in this year’s strategy, the FLETF has identified new high priority sectors for enforcement – aluminum, polyvinyl chloride (PVC), and seafood – for the first time since 2022.

The Department of Homeland Security, Chair of the Forced Labor Enforcement Task Force (FLETF) released a summary of enforcement efforts since enactment of the Uyghur Forced Labor Protection Act. Highlighted in the fact sheet are the impacts the FLETF has made on Solar, PVC and Cotton supply chains, as well as a summary of the recent designation of New High Priority Sectors for Enforcement

Speaker of the House Mike Johnson announced his intention to renew the House Select Committee on the CCP for the 119th Congress, according to a Committee announcement.   The 119th Congress will convene in January 2025.

The Information Systems Technical Advisory Committee (ISTAC) will meet on July 24, 2024, 9:00 a.m., Eastern Daylight Time. To join the conference, submit inquiries to Ms. Yvette Springer at Yvette.Springer@bis.doc.gov .

The Department of the Treasury, as Chair of the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking that would expand CFIUS’s jurisdiction over certain transactions by foreign persons involving real estate in the United States. This proposed rule would add over 50 military installations, across 30 states, to the existing list of installations around which CFIUS has jurisdiction, including over land purchases.

House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul announced the full committee will hold a markup to consider eighteen measures on Wednesday, July 10th.

Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Brian Nelson repeaded the Treasury's call for bankers to maintain correspondent relationships abroad, and reverse the wholesale cessation of such arrangements for administrative compliance expediency which has been taking place.   "We share the concerns that Pacific Island countries are experiencing among the most serious declines in correspondent banking relationships in the world," he noted. "These terminations of correspondent banking relationships can be calamitous, given that many Pacific Island countries receive approximately 10 percent of their collective GDP in the form of personal remittances.

United States Trade Representative Katherine Tai Monday announced that she will host the 21st U.S.–sub-Saharan Africa Trade and Economic Cooperation Forum (AGOA Forum) in Washington, D.C., from July 24 to 26, 2024. The ministerial program will feature plenary sessions on the present and future of AGOA and U.S.–Africa trade and investment cooperation, as well as breakout sessions on various topics.  It will be preceded on July 24 by a Civil Society and Organized Labor Forum and a Private Sector Forum.

A proposed 25 percent tariff on Chinese-made port cranes has been met with strong opposition from U.S. port authorities and terminal operators, who warn of unintended negative consequences such as reduced port efficiency, higher consumer prices, and a weakened national economy. The tariffis set to take effect on August 1st, At least 35 STS cranes are currently on order across the country, with an average cost of $15 million each, leading to unanticipated costs to port operators of at least $131.5 million, according to the operators.

Following on the June 18 Indictments of the Los Angeles money launderer for the Mecican drug traffickers, Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctioned a Mexico-based money launderer and China-based members of a money laundering organization with criminal links to the Sinaloa Cartel.. The United States is working with Chinese authorities to target illicit financing networks, including those linked to the fentanyl trade. Chinese Money Laundering Organizations are now one of the key actors laundering money professionally in the United States and worldwide, and are rapidly becoming one of the most prominent money laundering threat actors facing the U.S. financial system.

The volume of world merchandise trade turned up in the first quarter of 2024 after remaining flat throughout 2023, according to the latest trade statistics released by the WTO. Merchandise trade …

 The U.S. Census Bureau and the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis announced today that the goods and services deficit was $75.1 billion in May, up $0.6 billion from $74.5 billion in April, revised.  May exports were $261.7 billion, $1.8 billion less than April exports. May imports were $336.7 billion, $1.2 billion less than April imports.  The May increase in the goods and services deficit reflected an increase in the goods deficit of $0.9 billion to $100.2 billion and an increase in the services surplus of $0.3 billion to $25.1 billion. 

On July 1-2, 2024, the United States and the Philippines met under the U.S.- Philippines Trade and Investment Framework Agreement (TIFA).  The TIFA meeting was co-chaired by Assistant U.S. Trade Representative for Southeast Asia Sarah Ellerman and the Philippine Department of Trade and Industry Undersecretary for International Trade Group Allan Gepty.   During the TIFA meeting, the United States and the Philippines discussed a range of bilateral trade and investment issues, including agriculture, labor, government procurement, intellectual property, environment, automotive safety standards, and supply chains.

The Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) announced that Danielle Fumagalli will serve as Acting Assistant United States Trade Representative for Japan, Korea, and Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Affairs. Ms. Fumagalli has most recently served as Deputy Assistant United States Trade Representative (DAUSTR) in the same office.

The FCC proposes to prohibit recognition and participation in its equipment authorization program for any certification body or test lab directly or indirectly owned or controlled by an entity on the Covered List. The Covered List comprises entities identified as posing a national security risk. The FCC also plans to prevent reliance on any TCB or test lab with ownership ties to entities on this list.

Ways and Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith gets back to work July 9 with a hearing to advance legislation "to protect our supply chains from foreign control," and to address the "transformation of our once elite universities into incubators for extremism and harassment," according to a statement from his office.   Included is legislation compelling elite universities to admit "more American students," as well as tightening the eligibility of battery component subsidies in the Inflation Reduction Act.

The Treasury Department's Office of Investment Security formally published the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking for the Outbound Investment Rule announced June 21st.   Written comments must be received by August 4, 2024.

Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) issued its OFAC Guidance: Production Submission Standards, updating OFAC’s former data delivery standards. This guidance provides technical and general guidance to persons submitting material to OFAC and applies primarily to persons providing responses to administrative subpoenas, requests for information, disclosures, and especially for submissions that may entail voluminous documentation (e.g., more than 100 pages).

Two people were arrested Tuesday morning for shipping controlled avionics from New Jersey to the United Arab Emirates without having obtained the required license and authorization. The defendants obtained an ADIRU, a component that supplies air data and inertial reference information to pilots’ electronic flight instrument system displays and attempted to ship it to another company in the UAE.

A Florida man has been indicted for attempting to export scientific equipment from the United States into Russia without a license. Kirill Gordei, 34, a citizen of Belarus and permanent resident of the U,S, allegedly falsely claimed that he was shipping a Thermo Fisher Scientific Orbitrap Exploris GC 240 Mass Spectrometer  to Uzbekistan when it was, in fact, destined for Russia.