If Europe is unable to impose a complete embargo on Russian energy imports, it should at least consider an import tax to begin reducing European demand for Russian oil, said Andreas Goldthau, an energy policy expert and professor at the University of Erfurt. Goldthau, speaking during an April 14 event hosted by the Washington International Trade Association, said revenue from the tariffs could also help the EU source and distribute gas from other suppliers.

The Bureau of Industry and Security on April 7 suspended the export privileges of three Russian airlines for violating U.S. export controls against Russia. The agency issued 180-day temporary denial orders for Aeroflot, Azur Air and UTair, barring the airlines from participating in transactions with items subject to the Export Administration Regulations, BIS said.

Although the EU has been reluctant to impose an embargo on Russian oil and gas (see 2203230037), the bloc could soon take steps to impose some energy-related trade restrictions, Vladimir Milov, a Russian economist and opposition politician, said during a March 24 event hosted by Chatham House. He said the EU will eventually introduce some “gradual embargo measures,” potentially against refined products or liquefied natural gas. “In terms of European unity, my understanding is they're moving,” he said. “There will be movement in that direction.”

Turkey recently imposed temporary export bans on certain agricultural products to “stabilize” domestic market prices, the USDA Foreign Agricultural Service said in a March 15 report. The ban affects shipments of grains, oilseeds, cooking oil and other agricultural goods sourced from third countries being held at bonded warehouses at the country’s seaports, USDA said. Turkey also suspended direct exports of cooking oil, bulk olive oil shipments, margarine, red lentils and dry beans, the agency said, and could block other agricultural exports “at any time.”

Russia’s aviation authority said China has declined to provide Russian airlines with aircraft parts, some of which are subject to Western sanctions, Reuters reported March 10. The announcement came after Boeing and Airbus ceased providing Russia with aircraft components, which are subject to U.S. and EU export controls. A Russian official told the country’s news agencies that it will look to source parts from other countries, including Turkey and India, after a “failed attempt to obtain them from China,” according to the report. The U.S. Department of Commerce has threatened to penalize Chinese companies that help Russia evade export restrictions, including placing them on the Entity List (see 2203080053).

The EU said March 10 it rejected a request from a Polish bicycle parts exporter to be exempted from the antidumping duties on bicycle parts from China. In imposing the duties, the EU extended the AD on bicycle parts from China to cover essential bicycle parts. Rowerland Piotr Tokarz, based on Broszkowice, Poland, requested an exemption from these duties. The duty will be collected from Oct. 17, 2019.

The U.N. Security Council on March 7 added one entry to its ISIL (Da’esh) and al-Qaida sanctions list. Sanctions now apply to the terrorist group Khatiba al-Tawhid wal-Jihad, which operates in Syria, Turkey, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Russia, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, Egypt, Afghanistan and Ukraine. The State Department sanctioned the group earlier this week (see 2203070059).

China banned the import of poultry and related products from Canada following an outbreak of an avian flu subtype at a Canadian turkey farm, China's General Administration of Customs said in a Feb. 21 notice, according to an unofficial translation. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency said the highly pathogenic H5N1, which occurred on a farm in Nova Scotia, was reported to the World Organization for Animal Health. The Nova Scotia farm has poultry and products for local sale, CFIA said. China said any poultry or poultry products sent from Canada will either be returned or destroyed.

The Office of Foreign Assets Control designated three individuals, nine entities and one vessel on Feb. 23 as part of its counterterrorism efforts. Abdo Abdullah Dael Amed of Yemen, Chiranjeev Kumar Singh of India, and Konstantinos Stavridis of Greece were added to the Specially Designated Nationals list, along with entities in Turkey, Yemen and the United Arab Emirates. The Department of the Treasury said in a press release said that the targets were key components in a "complex international network of intermediaries" helping to finance Houthi rebels in Yemen.

Turkey will slash the value-added tax on staple food from 8% to 1% in a bid to curb inflation, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said at a virtual news conference, Bloomberg reported. Finance Minister Nureddin Nebati said that the Turkish government will create a task force to look at prices and a mobile app to help citizens find the cheapest goods in other efforts to fight high prices. Nebati also said the government will implement a new Credit Guarantee Fund package that will guarantee up to 60 billion liras, or $4.45 billion, allowing banks to dole out much more, Bloomberg said. So far, the Turkish central bank has cut interest rates by 500 basis points in four meetings since September, Bloomberg said. Turkey also recently authorized its agriculture ministry to restrict ag exports in an effort to control domestic food price inflation (see 2202020032).