As tensions between the United States and China escalate, the AUKUS alliance – consisting of Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States – has prompted research security concerns and changes to the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR). These changes are designed to facilitate the AUKUS plan, announced in 2021, which aims to provide Australia with the technology and capability to deploy nuclear-powered submarines.

U.S. agro-businesses, participating in a trade tour in Cuba, expressed frustration over the slow progress in boosting commerce with Cuban farmers and called on the Biden administration to ease restrictions, allowing them to invest in the island's private agriculture sector.

rade ministers from the Group of Seven (G7) nations convened in a virtual meeting hosted by Japan, this year's G7 president, to discuss concerns about global economic issues, including "economic coercion" and non-market trade practices. These issues are believed to be aimed at China, whose trade policies have increasingly come under scrutiny.

China and the United States clashed at the meeting of the Council for Trade in Goods (CTG) on April 3-4 over trade restrictive measures imposed on the basis of the national security exception. The conflict arose as China raised new specific trade concerns and requested clarification about actions taken by the United States, Japan, and the Netherlands to impose export restrictions on electronic chipmaking equipment.

World Trade Organization (WTO) Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala is pushing for an increase in the budget to establish a Transformation Office that aims to develop "a vision and strategy for the Secretariat," according to insider sources. The proposed office appears to be modeled after a similar division at the World Bank, where Okonjo-Iweala worked for 25 years.

Several key pieces of legislation have been introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate in recent weeks, with potential practical implications for businesses involved in international trade, particularly with China.

The Export-Import Bank of the United States (EXIM) opened the application period for the 2023-2024 Advisory Committee, Sub-Saharan Africa Advisory Committee, Council on Climate, Council on China Competition, Council on Small Business and Council on Advancing Women in Business. The application period begins April 3 and will remain open through April 28.

Kenneth Scott and his company, Mission Electronics, have agreed not to engage in the export of EAR controlled material for a period of twenty years.  Scott was charged in June 2022 by the U.S. Department of Commerce with violating multiple export control regulations related to the sale of two Motorola handheld radios to Iran with a total value of approximately $1,700..

Japan's announcement of a new biofuels policy has paved the way for the United States to potentially capture the entirety of Japan's on-road ethanol market according to the USTR. 

Japan has announced plans to impose export restrictions on 23 types of equipment used in the production of semiconductors, as part of a three-way agreement with the US and the Netherlands to limit China’s access to cutting-edge chips. The move by Japan follows similar curbs by the US aimed at restricting China’s access to advanced technology in an escalating battle over the technology.

The United States and Japan have struck a trade deal on critical minerals used in the production of electric vehicle batteries.  The agreement is meant to reduce both countries’ dependence on countries like China for critical minerals, senior Administration officials told reporters. The Treasury Department published proposed content rules for the critical minerals content required for eligibility for the electric vehicle tax credits in the Inflation Reduction Act.

Vice President Kamala Harris announced new initiatives aimed at boosting trade with Tanzania as she continued her visit to African countries to promote closer economic ties and offer an alternative to China.

Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) today announced a settlement with Uphold HQ Inc. for maintaining accounts in sanctioned countries over a five year period. …

Instead of focusing on reshoring, World Trade Organization members should diversify their supply chains to business-friendly developing countries that have not seen the benefits of trade, WTO Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala told US business leaders.

  The United States and 23 other countries have agreed to a voluntary code of conduct pledging to use export control tools to prevent the proliferation of goods, software and technologies …

Norwegian munitions firm Nammo is finding its ability to expand production of anti-tank and artillery rounds for Ukraine limited because the local electricity supplier has contracted all future capacity to a data center to hosting Tik-Tok.

The US and Mexico today announced a course of remediation to address repeated denials of rights at a Troy Michigan-based VU Manufacturing’s automotive components facility in Piedras Negras, Coahuila, Mexico, three miles from the US border.

The Treasury and Federal Reserve have jointly fined Wells Fargo Bank nearly $100 million for failing to prohibit sanctions violations conducted on its trade finance platform Eximbills over a period of seven years.

Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) issued a license permitting a sanctioned Paraguayan tobacco company to continue its remittances under the 1998 Tobacco Master Settlement Agreement.

House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul spoke on the House Floor in support of passing H.R. 1093, To direct the Secretary of State to submit to Congress a report on implementation of the advanced capabilities pillar of the trilateral security partnership between Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States. The bill passed the House 393-4.