Former President Joe Biden's administration made the most “aggressive and far-reaching use” of trade tools of any U.S. administration in history, and the new Trump administration is on track to “wield these tools in an even more aggressive manner,” Gibson Dunn said in a 2024 international trade recap released this month. Although the Treasury Department under Biden imposed sanctions at a faster rate than any of his predecessors, the law firm noted that President Donald Trump favors tariffs, which could cause the targets of those tariffs, including U.S. trading partners in Europe and Asia, to deploy similar tools “either in retaliation against U.S. measures or in pursuit of their own strategic interests.”
The Office of Foreign Assets Control on Feb. 13 sanctioned Karim Asad Ahmad Khan, the prosecutor for the International Criminal Court. The designation came days after President Donald Trump signed an executive order authorizing sanctions against people and entities linked to the ICC, including for issuing arrest warrants for Israeli officials accused of war crimes in Gaza (see 2502070022). OFAC didn’t release more information about the designation.
Canada announced new sanctions this week against two military officials with the Sudanese Armed Forces and Rapid Support Forces, the two groups locked in monthslong fighting over control of the country. The designations target Algoney Hamdan Dagalo Musa, an RSF major and procurement director, and Mirghani Idris Suleiman, an SAF general. Canada said both officials are linked to the violence against civilians and other human rights violations in Sudan. Both have been sanctioned by the U.S. (see 2410240006 and 2410080018).
The U.S., the U.K. and Australia this week sanctioned Zservers, a Russia-based internet infrastructure service provider, for supporting Russian ransomware attacks, the Treasury Department said. Treasury said Zservers specifically aids Russia-based LockBit, which the U.S. has called one of the world’s most active ransomware groups (see 2405070020).
The Office of Foreign Assets Control updated its license application portal with new functionality for people and organizations applying for sanctions licenses, the agency announced this week. The portal now allows users to create an account, which will let them save and return to an application in progress, view a list of their applications and case statuses in a single dashboard, save frequently used contacts for “easier data entry,” replicate a previous application, and more. Users who register for an account will need to enter a sign-in email and create a password, OFAC said.
A new executive order signed last week by President Donald Trump authorizes sanctions against people and entities linked to the International Criminal Court, including ICC officials, employees and their relatives. Trump signed the order in response to the ICC’s investigation of the Israeli military for war crimes in Gaza, including its issuance of arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other officials.
The State Department officially published the Cuba Restricted List in the Federal Register this week, days after the Trump administration reinstated the list as part of an effort to reverse last-minute moves by President Joe Biden that removed certain sanctions against the country (see 2502030055, 2501220008 and 2501170021). Entities on the list are generally blocked by the Cuban Assets Control Regulations from participating in financial transactions with U.S. parties, and the Bureau of Industry and Security will generally deny export applications "for use by entities or subentities" on the list.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control officially retired its RSS feed Jan. 31, the agency said in a notice this week (see 2411220009). The agency continues to provide updates about recent sanctions by email, and users can sign up for those updates. Technical support questions should be sent to O_F_A_C@treasury.gov.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week sanctioned a network of people, companies and ships that it said are moving millions of barrels of Iranian crude oil to China on behalf of the Iranian military and a sanctioned front company, Sepehr Energy Jahan Nama Pars (see 2311290034).
President Donald Trump on Feb. 4 signed a memorandum that would restore the “maximum pressure” campaign against Iran he instituted during his first administration, including possibly through new sanctions.