The Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control on Aug. 6 issued a set of Venezuela-related frequently asked questions, amended 12 general licenses, created 13 new general licenses and released a Venezuela sanctions guidance detailing which types of transactions are authorized between U.S. companies and Venezuela. The moves were in coordination with President Donald Trump’s Aug. 5 executive order that expanded certain sanctions on Venezuela.

The Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control agreed on a $1.7 million settlement with PACCAR Inc., of Bellevue, Washington, for 63 violations of U.S. sanctions on Iran by PACCAR’s subsidiary, OFAC said in an Aug. 6 notice. The subsidiary, Netherlands-based DAF Trucks N.V., sold 63 trucks worth more than $5 million to European customers that DAF knew intended to sell the trucks to Iran, OFAC said.

CBP updated its mitigation guidelines for export control seizures to include new mitigating factors, aggravating factors, a new list of remission terms and the elimination of the terms “technical violations” and “substantive violations,” CBP said in its updated July guidelines. In previous years, CBP distinguished between technical and substantive violations but said in its most recent guidelines that the terms were “confusing and misleading” to both CBP officers and the public because they were not used by other licensing agencies.

President Donald Trump’s Aug. 1 executive order (see 1908020020) announcing a second round of sanctions on Russia under The Chemical and Biological Weapons Control and Warfare Elimination Act includes export licensing restrictions for certain Commerce-controlled goods and technologies, the State Department said. In a fact sheet issued Aug. 2, the agency said all license applications for exporting chemical or biological weapon-related items to Russian state-owned entities are subject to a policy of presumption of denial. License exceptions, however, will "continue to be available" to U.S. companies involved in existing contracts with Russian customers, the State Department said.

Japan officially approved removing South Korea from its so-called whitelist of trusted trading partners, the Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry said Aug. 2, adding that it will begin enforcing the decision Aug. 28. The move was expected after Japan introduced a bill earlier this month as the two countries become embroiled in a trade dispute (see 1907300058).

As the U.S. continues to impose broad sanctions, companies are increasingly turning away from deals, fearing compliance risks, sanctions lawyers and experts said. While the Trump administration has tried to mitigate sanctions impacts on industry through advance notices, guidance and wind-down periods, the experts said, some of the damages have been unavoidable.

The broad range of U.S. sanctions are confusing U.S. allies, seem to have no clear goal and could damage future administrations' ability to levy sanctions, several experts on U.S. sanctions said. The U.S. actions are also allowing countries to create sanctions immunities and leading to divisions in Europe, they said, criticizing the Trump administration’s lack of planning for potential consequences.

China is expected to retaliate against President Donald Trump’s announcement on July 31 that the U.S. will be imposing a 10 percent tariff on Chinese goods under List 4, according to an Aug. 1 post by Ted Murphy, a Baker McKenzie lawyer. “We expect that China will retaliate … as it has done in the past,” he said.

A top Treasury official acknowledged criticism that the agency is abusing its sanctions powers but stood by the approach, saying the sanctions are necessary and that the Treasury is mitigating impacts on U.S. companies by issuing more compliance guidance.

Export Compliance Daily is providing readers with some of the top stories for July 22-26 in case they were missed.