On December 14, 2022, the United States and African Continental Free Trade Area Secretariat (AfCFTA) signed a Memorandum of Understanding on Cooperation for Trade and Investment between the United States and the African Continental Free Trade Area (MOU). The MOU was signed by U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) Katherine Tai and AfCFTA Secretary General Wamkele Mene during
On December 5, 2022, the Department of State’s Directorate of Defense Trade Controls (DDTC) released updated Compliance Program Guidelines that provide an overview of what it considers an effective compliance program. The document also provides both an introduction to the Arms Export Control Act (AECA), the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR), and the manufacturing
On December 9, 2022, the Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctioned two Chinese individuals and a vast network fishing vessels they control, including Pingtan Marine Enterprise Ltd. (PME) and Dalian Ocean Fishing Co., Ltd. (Dalian), for perpetrating serious human rights abuses and corruption via illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing. Although
On December 2, 2022, the Department of the Treasury (“Treasury”) issued a Determination pursuant to Executive Order 14071 of April 6, 2022 imposing a price cap of $60 per barrel on seaborne crude oil of Russian origin, effective December 5, 2022. Thus, companies can purchase and/or provide services related to the maritime transport of Russian-origin
On November 21, 2022, the Department of the Treasury issued a Determination pursuant to Executive Order 14071 (prohibiting new investment in and the provision of certain services to the Russian Federation, see Update of April 7, 2022), that prohibits the following categories of services related to the maritime transport of crude oil of Russian
On November 18, 2022, Customs Trade Partnership Against Terrorism (CTPAT) director Manual Garza announced that Customs and Border Protection (CBP) added three new forced labor benefits for its trade compliance partners “to the greatest extent possible and practical effective immediately.” These benefits include:
On November 23, 2022, Customs and Border Protection (CBP) issued a Withhold Release Order (WRO) that mandates CBP personnel at all U.S. ports of entry detain raw sugar and sugar-based products produced in the Dominican Republic by Central Romana Corporation Limited (Central Romana). This WRO followed an investigation that reasonably indicated Central Romana uses forced
On November 26, 2022, the Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) issued Venezuela General License (GL) 41 authorizing all transactions ordinarily incident and necessary to certain activities for or related to the operation and management by Chevron Corporation or its subsidiaries (“Chevron”) of Chevron’s joint ventures in Venezuela (collectively, the “Chevron
On November 26, 2022, the Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) issued Venezuela-related General License 8K, extending authorization until May 26, 2023 for certain activities previously authorized under General License 8J. General License 8K authorizes the continuation of transactions and activities “ordinarily incident and necessary to the limited maintenance of
On November 23, 2022, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) announced the further extension of exclusions for numerous products used to combat COVID-19 that are subject to China Section 301 tariffs. The exclusions were scheduled to expire on November 30, 2022, and have been extended for an additional 90 days, until February 28,