In less than two weeks, we have seen Syria go from one of the most heavily sanctioned countries on the planet to a country well on the road to establishing normal trade relations with the Western world. The latest flurry of developments started on May 13, 2025, when President Trump caught much of the world by surprise when he said in a speech in Riyadh: “I will be ordering the cessation of sanctions against Syria…
In an era of intensifying geopolitical tensions, companies with operations in the U.S. must navigate an increasingly fragmented and national security-driven regulatory landscape governing cross-border transfers of many different types of data, including personal data and technical information used in R&D and patent filings. The U.S. Department of Justice’s new Data Security Program (DSP) essentially prohibits U.S. persons from making certain volumes of Americans’ personal data available to entities headquartered or residing in China (including…
On January 16, 2025, the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security (“BIS”) issued a final rule entitled “Securing the Information and Communications Technology and Services Supply Chain: Connected Vehicles” (“Final Rule”) prohibiting certain transactions involving the sale or import of connected vehicles integrating specific hardware and software, or those components sold separately, with a sufficient nexus to China or Russia. The Final Rule, which follows the earlier notice of proposed rulemaking (“NPRM”)…
The US Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security (“BIS”) published an interim final rule (“IFR”) on January 15, 2025, that introduces new export controls on artificial intelligence (“AI”) model weights and advanced computing integrated circuits (“IC”) in the Export Administration Regulations (“EAR”). The new controls are intended to simultaneously restrict exports to certain countries while establishing a framework to support the diffusion and supply of certain AI model weights and advanced computing ICs…