The government of Canada recently issued the following trade-related notices as of May 10 (note that some may also be given separate headlines):

The Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control reached a settlement of about $870,000 with a New York-based shipbroking company that OFAC said violated weapons-related sanctions five times. The company, MID-SHIP Group LLC, violated the Weapons of Mass Destruction Proliferators Sanctions Regulations by negotiating contracts among ship owners and charterers worth about $470,000 between February and November 2011, OFAC said May 2. The ships used in the transfers were owned by the Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines (IRISL), which was sanctioned by OFAC in 2008.

U.S. economic sanctions are on a path toward losing power and impact, potentially undercutting a variety of tools used in U.S. foreign policy, according to a study published April 29 by the Center for a New American Security. The study, “Economic Dominance, Financial Technology, and the Future of U.S. Economic Coercion,” examines the current state of U.S. economic sanctions and makes several predictions, portraying a muddy outlook for the future of U.S. sanctioning tools. “If policymakers want to be able to continue deploying coercive economic tools effectively … they must ... get ahead of trends that could, if left unchecked, weaken some of the most important tools of U.S. foreign policy,” the study said.

Canada and Colombia were removed from the priority watch list for intellectual property violations, and Tajikistan moved off the watch list, according to the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative's annual review of countries' policies on patents, trade secrets, counterfeits and piracy. Saudi Arabia was moved up to the priority watch list because of deteriorating conditions there, including "rampant satellite and online piracy," a USTR official said April 25.

The Trump administration's decision to end exemptions for Iranian oil sanctions will have a “more tangible impact on business” than many of the administration's previous sanctions designations against Iran, according to Johann Strauss, an international trade lawyer at Akin Gump. The move, announced by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on April 22, was aimed at choking off Iran’s oil exports and came about a week after the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control announced it was designating Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (see 1904220021).

The Trump administration's proposal to transfer firearms-related export controls from the State Department to Commerce would cause significant harm to global security and would loosen necessary controls over dangerous weapons, according to a panel organized by Rep. Norma Torres, D-Calif. Speaking at a House office building on April 23, gun-control experts and advocates attempted to debunk the administration's rationalization for transferring authority for gun export controls. Several pointed to the dangers of increased weapons exporting, saying the U.S. could become complicit in killings around the world. Others pointed to lapses in regulations if the changes take effect.

The executive director of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce's U.S.-UK Business Council, said that even a customs union would be more complicated for U.S. exporters than the status quo. Marjorie Chorlins was speaking with reporters on a conference call April 17. "The amendment proposing a customs union came very close to passing," she said, in response to a question from Export Compliance Daily. But exactly what would be included in the customs union could vary -- it does in Norway and Turkey, she said.

In the April 10 edition of the Official Journal of the European Union the following trade-related notices were posted:

In the April 3 edition of the Official Journal of the European Union the following trade-related notices were posted:

Japan and Turkey are hoping to agree on a trade deal by June as the two sides enter their latest round of negotiations, according to a notice from Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry and a report by Nikkei Asian Review. The latest round of negotiations -- announced on April 1 by Japan -- are being held April 2-5 in Ankara.