The U.S. government, together with industry, needs to set clearer guardrails around sensitive technology shipments destined to China, two panelists said during an event on export controls last week. Another panelist questioned whether the Trump administration is willing to set tougher rules, saying Beijing appears to have recently gained extra leverage and adding that the U.S. has for years failed to deter companies from flouting restrictions against China.

The Russian grantor of a blocked U.S.-based trust company is suing the Office of Foreign Assets Control, saying OFAC falsely accused the trust of being used to help a Russian oligarch evade sanctions. Kuncha Kerimova, the grantor, said the trust was designed to share her wealth with her grandchildren and other descendants, not to aid designated Russian billionaire Suleiman Kerimov.

The U.K. is open to strengthening enforcement against both British and third-country companies that illegally divert goods to Russia, said Douglas Alexander, the U.K.’s minister for trade policy and economic security.

President Donald Trump is ordering the reversal of a years-old purchase of audio visual technology equipment supplier Jupiter Systems by China-based Suirui Group, saying in a Federal Register notice released July 10 that the deal threatens U.S. national security. Suirui, which describes itself as a supplier of communication cloud products and services, must divest from Jupiter within 120 days, unless the company is granted an extension by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S.

The Senate Appropriations Committee endorsed a proposal July 10 to urge the Bureau of Industry and Security to create a program to provide financial rewards to those who report illegal exports of advanced semiconductors and AI-enabling chips to “foreign adversaries.”

Microsoft President Brad Smith this week warned the U.S. against introducing new export controls that could prevent American companies from becoming the world’s leading exporters of AI services, suggesting the Trump administration should instead look into expanding or replicating the AI deal it announced in May with the United Arab Emirates.

A bill that could impose a wide range of sanctions on Russia and its supporters if Moscow refuses to negotiate a peace agreement with Ukraine might head to the Senate floor before the August congressional recess, Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., said July 9.

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The Office of Foreign Assets Control fined a global audio electronics company $1,454,145 for allegedly violating U.S. sanctions, accusing its employees of shipping goods to a United Arab Emirates distributor that they knew would then sell the items in Iran.

Companies should expect the Bureau of Industry and Security to continue a steady pace of penalties against export violators, particularly for cases involving semiconductors and other advanced technologies, said Gregory Dunlap, the former special agent in charge of the agency’s Los Angeles field office. And if Congress grants the agency’s request for more funding, Dunlap said, BIS could soon have the resources to more quickly carry out investigations and probe a greater number of exporters.