A confidential State Department memo obtained by Nextgov/FCW and Defense One advises U.S. diplomats to warn international partners against doing business with Chinese satellite communications providers, citing risks of espionage and military exploitation by Beijing. The memo also addresses the geopolitical implications of relying on U.S.-based satellite services, notably SpaceX’s Starlink.

The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) today designated Iranian liquified petroleum gas (LPG) trader Seyed Asadoollah Emamjomeh, his son Meisam Emamjomeh, and their global network of companies and vessels for facilitating the export of Iranian LPG and crude oil in violation of U.S. sanctions.

The United States on April 15 lifted sanctions imposed in January on the head of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban's cabinet, Antal Rogan, over accusations of corruption and cronyism. Rogan was sanctioned January 7th for public corruption which "is affecting Hungary's decision-making on issues that impact the security of the United States of America and our allies."

On April 3, 2025, the Trump Administration announced the America First Trade Policy Report, a 24-chapter document addressing U.S. trade imbalances, non-reciprocal practices, and national security concerns. The reports themselves were not made public, rather the White House released a brief summary of the report, noting that chapters include reviews of unfair foreign trade practices, renegotiation of the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), and assessments of foreign currency manipulation and existing trade agreements.

President Trump has signed an Executive Order directing the Secretary of Commerce to initiate a Section 232 investigation under the Trade Expansion Act of 1962 into the national security implications of U.S. reliance on imported processed critical minerals and their derivative products.

Customs and Border Protection will host the 2025 Trade and Cargo Security (TCS) Summit in New Orleans, LA, on May 6-8, 2025. The 2025 TCS Summit will be open for the public to attend in person …

Seven Republican senators have  sent a letter to Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick urging the Trump administration to withdraw the Biden-era Artificial Intelligence Diffusion Rule (AIDR). The senators argue that the rule, which imposes tiered restrictions on global access to U.S. AI technology, threatens American innovation and global competitiveness while failing to adequately counter China’s ambitions.

Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Ranking Member of the Senate Banking Committee, has called on the Department of Commerce to immediately block exports of Nvidia’s H20 and other advanced AI chips to the People’s Republic of China (PRC), citing national security concerns and reports of undue influence in the administration’s export control decisions.

Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), a senior member of the Senate Armed Services Committee and Ranking Member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, sent a letter to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth raising concerns over the national security implications of President Trump’s sweeping tariffs. Shaheen warned that tariffs imposed on imports from nearly every country risk undermining the Department of Defense’s purchasing power, weakening industrial supply chains, and driving up costs for defense contractors—particularly small businesses.

Chairman John Moolenaar (R-MI) and Ranking Member Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL) of the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party today released a report identifying DeepSeek, a Chinese AI platform, as a direct threat to U.S. national security.

Residents in select ZIP codes across California and Texas will soon be subject to heightened federal financial surveillance under a new order issued by the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN). The move significantly lowers the threshold for reportable cash transactions from $10,000 to just $200 in 30 ZIP codes along the U.S.–Mexico border.

The Office of the United States Trade Representative has invoked the Rapid Response Labor Mechanism (RRM) in the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) to review whether workers at Modern Metal Alloys, S.A. de C.V. (MMA), located in Querétaro, Mexico, are being denied the right to freedom of association and collective bargaining.

The U.S. Department of Commerce formally announced the initiation of two separate investigations under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962 to assess the impact of semiconductor-related and pharmaceutical-related imports on national security. The investigations, which will be conducted by the Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS), Office of Strategic Industries and Economic Security. The investigations will evaluate:

The U.K. Serious Fraud Office (SFO) has charged United Insurance Brokers Limited (UIBL) with failing to prevent bribery by its associates in a case involving multimillion-dollar reinsurance contracts in Ecuador. UIBL, a London-based reinsurance firm, is accused of allowing U.S.-based intermediaries to bribe Ecuadorean officials between October 2013 and March 2016 in exchange for awarding contracts valued at approximately $38 million. The contracts were issued by state-owned insurers covering Ecuador’s public sector infrastructure, including water and electricity companies.

On April 16, 2025, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) released updated guidance for the maritime sector titled Advisory for Shipping and Maritime Stakeholders on Detecting and Mitigating Iranian Oil Sanctions Evasion. In coordination with the advisory, OFAC also designated seven entities and five vessels allegedly engaged in Iranian petroleum and petrochemical sales. One of the most prominent targets is a Chinese “teapot” refinery, sanctioned for purchasing over $1 billion worth of Iranian crude.

The U.S. Department of Justice has filed a civil complaint against Barco Uniforms Inc. and several affiliated entities and individuals, alleging violations of the False Claims Act stemming from an alleged scheme to underpay customs duties on imported apparel.

The US Trade Representative's office announced a schedule for the imposition of fees on Chinese-built vessels calling on US ports.   Markedly less punitive than initially proposed, Thursday's announced Section 301 measures will be implemented in two phases an escalating per-ton charge on foreign ships and, three years out, a scheme to penalize non-US LNG carriers,

Continuing his crusade against Chinese batterymakers, Rep. John Moolenaar (R-MI) sent a letter to the CEOs of two banks "demanding the banks withdraw from their role" in the upcoming Hong Kong initial public offering (IPO) of Contemporary Amperex Technology Co., Limited (CATL).

The Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency (DCSA) Security Training (ST) is announcing the Virtual Security Conference for Industry on April 23-24, 2025. Registration for this online conference is live now.

The Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency (DCSA) is preparing to implement sweeping changes that will expand foreign ownership, control, or influence (FOCI) reviews to thousands of unclassified U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) contracts, marking a major shift in federal acquisition policy under Section 847 of the Fiscal Year 2020 National Defense Authorization Act (FY20 NDAA).