On December 22, 2020, the US Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) formally added the Central Bank of Syria (“CBOS”) to the List of Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons (the “SDN List”) along with certain high-ranking officials in the Syrian government and affiliated entities.  Concurrent with OFAC’s designations, the US State Department (State Department) designated six Syrian individuals pursuant to Section 2 of Executive Order 13894, “Blocking Property and Suspending Entry of Certain Persons Contributing to the Situation in Syria.”

See https://home.treasury.gov/policy-issues/financial-sanctions/recent-actions/20201222

https://www.state.gov/syria-sanctions-designations-on-the-anniversary-of-un-security-council-resolution-2254/

On December 21, 2020, CBP issued, CSMS #45244051 – GUIDANCE: Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) Expires effective, December 31, 2020, to inform the Trade that the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP), special program indicator (SPI) “A,” “A+,” and “A*”, will expire on December 31, 2020 if no Congressional legislation is passed to renew the program. Until further notice, GSP eligible goods entered or withdrawn from warehouse need to pay “General” (column 1) duty rates effective, January 1, 2021, 12:00 am. U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) encourages importers to continue to flag GSP eligible importations with SPI “A” during the lapse, starting January 1, 2021.

See https://content.govdelivery.com/bulletins/gd/USDHSCBP-2b25e93?wgt_ref=USDHSCBP_WIDGET_2?utm_source=search.usa.gov&utm_medium=search.usa.gov&utm_term=undefined&utm_content=undefined&utm_campaign=(not%20set)&gclid=undefined&dclid=undefined&GAID=false

On December 18, 2020, the Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) published in the Federal Register a notice [Docket No. 201214-0339] announcing that on November 23, 2020, the Secretary of Commerce terminated an investigation under section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962, as amended, which was initiated on May 19, 2020, to determine whether imports of mobile cranes threatened to impair the national security. Notice of the investigation and a request for public comments was published in the Federal Register on May 26, 2020. The investigation was originally requested in an application submitted by the Manitowoc Company, Inc. (“Manitowoc”) on December 19, 2019.

On September 8, 2020, the BIS received a formal request from Manitowoc to withdraw its application and terminate the investigation. Manitowoc stated that the current economic environment is very different from when Manitowoc submitted the application in December 2019, given the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Secretary of Commerce has evaluated the request to withdraw and has determined that it is appropriate to terminate the investigation.

See https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2020-12-18/pdf/2020-27863.pdf

On December 16, 2020,  US Department of the Treasury delivered to Congress the semiannual Report on Macroeconomic and Foreign Exchange Policies of Major Trading Partners of the United States. Treasury determined that both Vietnam and Switzerland are currency manipulators.

See https://home.treasury.gov/system/files/206/December-2020-FX-Report-FINAL.pdf

On 7 October 2020, the European Commission adopted the revised Annex I (the “Dual-Use List“) to Regulation 428/2009 (the “Dual-Use Regulation“). The new Dual-Use List came into force on 15 December 2020.

See https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=OJ:L:2020:421:TOC