On July 11, 2017, President Trump signed an Executive Order allowing additional time to consider actions by the Government of Sudan before lifting US sanctions on Sudan (“July Executive Order”).
On June 29, 2017, the US Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (“FinCEN”) issued for public inspection a notice of proposed rulemaking (the “Proposed Rule”) that would restrict a Chinese commercial bank’s access to the US financial system based on a finding that the bank was involved in money laundering activities involving North Korea. This action coincided with designations by the US Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (“OFAC”) of one entity and two individuals with alleged ties to North Korea.
On June 20, 2017, the US Office of Foreign Assets Control (“OFAC”) announced that it had added 38 individuals and entities to the Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons List (“SDN List”) and 20 entities to the Sectoral Sanctions Identification List (“SSI List”) under US sanctions targeting Russia and Crimea. On June 21, 2017, the US Bureau of Industry and Security (“BIS”) also announced that it would add some of these SDN entities to the Entity List.
In the midst of the ongoing Department of Justice investigation into the Trump campaign ties with Russian officials, on June 15, 2017, the US Senate voted 98-2 to pass a comprehensive Russia sanctions package. These measures were offered as an amendment to, and largely overshadowed, separate Iran sanctions legislation – the Countering Iran’s Destabilizing Activities Act of 2017 (S. 722).