The Office of Foreign Assets Control this week sanctioned various people and sham charities located abroad for being "prominent financial supporters" of the military and terrorist activities of Hamas. The people and charities help to fund the Hamas military wing "under the pretense of conducting humanitarian work," including aid work in Gaza, OFAC said.

The EU officially approved a new Russia sanctions package this week, targeting hundreds of ships, people and entities while adding new items to its export control list.

The State Department approved two possible military sales to Turkey, the Defense Security Cooperation Agency said May 14.

President Donald Trump said the U.S. is considering lifting sanctions against Syria to help give the Syrian people a “fresh start” following last year’s fall of the Bashar Assad regime.

The State Department this week sanctioned multiple entities and ships moving Iranian petroleum products and petrochemical products, including four sellers and one buyer of hundreds of millions of dollars worth of Iranian energy.

Recent U.S. trade actions, such as the IEEPA tariffs on China, Canada and Mexico, the Section 232 tariffs on steel and aluminum derivatives, and the temporarily paused reciprocal tariffs on dozens of countries worldwide, could cause global container volumes to slump by 1% in 2025, according to U.K-based maritime shipping advisory firm Drewry.

The Bureau of Industry and Security said April 24 that it added 18 entities to its Unverified List after it was unable to verify the “legitimacy and reliability” of the parties through end-use checks, including their ability to responsibly receive controlled U.S. exports. It also removed five companies from the list.

The Bureau of Industry and Security said April 24 that it added 18 entities to its Unverified List after it was unable to verify the “legitimacy and reliability” of the parties through end-use checks, including their ability to responsibly receive controlled U.S. exports. It also removed five companies from the list. The added entities are located in China, Finland, Italy, Kazakhstan, Turkey and the U.K., while the removed ones are in China and the United Arab Emirates.

The Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctioned a network of people and companies connected to Sa’id al-Jamal, a sanctioned senior Houthi financial official backed by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Qods Force. OFAC said the network has bought tens of millions of dollars’ worth of commodities from Russia, including weapons and other sensitive goods, for the Houthis in Yemen. The agency also sanctioned eight digital asset wallets used by the Houthis to move money.

World Trade Organization members on April 1 appointed Pakistan's Ali Sarfraz Hussain the new head of the Committee on Agriculture in a special session, the WTO announced. Hussain will lead agriculture talks with the goal of achieving a "meaningful outcome" at the 14th Ministerial Conference, which is set for March 26-29, 2026, the WTO said. Hussain takes over for Turkey's Alparslan Alcarsoy. The new chair will also head the Committee on Agriculture's special session subcommittee on cotton and will meet with "delegations and group coordinators over the coming days." After these meetings, Hussain said he will invite members to an informal special session meeting and dedicated sessions on "public food stockholding and the 'special safeguard mechanism' in the third week of April."