26-0928: Monday's "Export/Import Daily Bugle"

1. Today’s Federal Register (No items of interest.)

(Source: Today’s Federal Register)

2. Future Federal Register

(Source: Future Federal Register)

3. CBP Cargo Systems Messages

(Source: DHS/CBP/CSMS)

4. CBP Events in September 2026

(Source: OTR Webinars)

5. Commerce/BIS (Nothing new.)

(Source: Commerce/BIS)

6. State/DDTC (Nothing new.)

(Source: State/DDTC)

7. Treasury/OFAC Issues Amended Venezuela General Licenses

(Source: Treasury/OFAC, 28 Sep 2026)

     The Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) is issuing Venezuela-related General License 46E, "Authorizing Certain Activities Involving Venezuelan-Origin Oil or Petrochemical Products;" Venezuela-related General License 48D, "Authorizing the Supply of Certain Items and Services to Venezuela;" Venezuela-related General License 49B, "Authorizing Negotiations of and Entry Into Contingent Contracts for Certain Investment in Venezuela."
     For more information on this specific action, visit our Recent Actions page.

8. US Trade Representative’s Recommendations from the U.S.-China Board of Trade

(Source: USTR Press Office, 27 Sep 2026) [Excerpts]

     Ambassador Jamieson Greer issued a statement on September 27, 2026, following the announcement of the recommendations from the U.S.-China Board of Trade.
     President Donald J. Trump and President Xi Jinping established the U.S.-China Board of Trade during President Trump’s May visit to Beijing to manage trade in non-sensitive products between the two largest economies in the world.
     Following President Xi’s visit to Washington, both sides have announced the next step under the U.S.-China Board of Trade, including recommendations for non-sensitive products that may qualify for better trade treatment. …
     To read the working procedures for the Board of Trade, click here. To read the terms of reference for the 30-for-30 framework, click here. To read the products recommended by the Board of Trade for the 30-for-30 framework, click here.

9. White House Actions: “U.S.-China Board of Trade ‘30-FOR-30’ Lists of Products Recommended for Reduced Tariff Treatment”

(Source: The White House, 27 Sep 2026) [Excerpts]

     The United States and China will consider the following list of U.S. products for import into China and list of Chinese products for import into the United States with a view toward providing reduced tariff treatment to those goods in a reciprocal manner, consistent with their respective domestic laws and processes. … [List here.]

10. Breaking Defense: “DC Circuit Panel Upholds Pentagon’s Ban on Anthropic – So What Comes Next?”

(Source: Breaking Defense News, 25 Sep 2026)

     The ruling of September 25, 2026, by a three-judge appeals panel against Anthropic in the AI titan’s lawsuit against the Department of Defense is far from the end of the saga, legal experts told Breaking Defense, with Anthropic’s options including further appeals.
     The US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia upheld the Pentagon’s controversial designation of the company’s products as a “supply chain risk” to national security. That decision allows the Pentagon to ban all use of Anthropic AI, not only by its own personnel, but also by private sector employees actively working on defense contracts.
     However, the ruling does not affect a separate and parallel lawsuit in the Northern District of California, where Judge Rita Lin ruled last month against the Trump administration’s attempt to ban Anthropic from all federal contracts. The DC court ruling, by contrast, only covers the Defense Department ban. …
     Anthropic, for its part, released a statement that kept its options open. “We respectfully disagree with the court’s decision. Another federal court has already held the government’s parallel designation unlawful,” the statement said, referring to the California case. “We remain confident in our position and are considering all options, including further review.” … [Continue]

11. Expeditors News: “CBP Announces Electronic Export Manifest for Truck Cargo Test”

(Source: Expeditors News, 25 Sep 2026, 25 Sep 2026)

     On September 23, 2026, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) published a bulletin via its Cargo Systems Messaging Service (CSMS) announcing a voluntary test program for Electronic Export Manifest (EEM) in the Automated Commercial Environment (ACE) for truck cargo.
     According to the CSMS bulletin, the test will be conducted to evaluate " the feasibility of requiring truck carriers to electronically submit limited export manifest data at least 24 hours prior to departure from the United States, followed by a complete export manifest filing no later than two (2) hours prior to arrival at the final port of export."
     CBP is looking for nine truck carriers to participate in the voluntary test program. The test is scheduled to begin on October 23, 2026, and is expected to run for approximately two years.
     The CSMS #70005765 - "Electronic Export Manifest for Truck Cargo Test" is HERE.

12. Korea Times: “Why US Chip Controls Took a Back Seat at Xi-Trump Summit”

(Source: The Korea Times, 27 Sep 2026) [Excerpts]

     There is little question that Jensen Huang and Lisa Su, the heads of U.S. semiconductor chip giants Nvidia and Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), had secured two of the best seats in the house at the White House state dinner on Thursday evening: at the head table alongside the two presidents and their wives.
     But what remains unclear is how much progress they were able to make on their primary goal of restoring access to the Chinese market, amid entrenched opposition to that happening in both China and the U.S.
     That is because U.S. semiconductor chip export controls do not seem to have been a major sticking point during Chinese President Xi Jinping’s historic state visit to Washington this week, despite most of the restrictions still being in place. … [Continue]

13. ST&R Trade Report: “The Week Ahead: Tariffs, Import Ban, Valuation, Customs User Fees”

(Source: Sandler, Travis & Rosenberg Trade Report, 27 Sep 2026) [Excerpts]. Contact: [email protected], 1-305-894-1035

     Following are highlights of regulatory effective dates and deadlines and other trade-related events coming up in the next week:

14. ST&R Trade Report: “Foreign-Trade Zone News”

(Source: Sandler, Travis & Rosenberg Trade Report, 25 Sep 2026). Contact: [email protected], 1-305-894-1035

     The Foreign-Trade Zones Board has recently announced the actions listed below:

15. Baker McKenzie: “Enforcement Risks Around Criminal Organizations in Latin America Continue to Increase”

(Source: Global Sanctions and Export Controls Blog, 28 Sep 2026) [Excerpts]

* Principal Author: Janet K. Kim, philippe Reich ; Baker Mckenzie

     Two recent pronouncements indicate that enforcement risks around dealing with criminal narcotics trafficking organizations in Latin America continue to increase. We expect the Trump Administration to continue to focus on designating such organizations as Foreign Terrorist Organizations (“FTOs”), sanctioning their supporters, and enforcing the measures already in place. We also expect countries across Latin America to align more with the United States and impose their own sanctions against these organizations.
     First, on September 15, President Trump submitted to Congress a Presidential Determination on Major Drug Transit or Major Illicit Drug Producing Countries for Fiscal Year 2027 (“Presidential Determination”). The Presidential Administration named a number of countries as major drug transit or illicit drug producing countries, including several countries in Latin America (Colombia, Mexico, and others). It also stated that the Government of Brazil has failed to confront Primeiro Comando da Capital (“PCC”) and Comando Vermelho, which were designated by the US State Department as Foreign Terrorist Organizations earlier this year.
     Just a few days later, on September 22, the 15 countries participating in the new Shield of the Americas initiative—Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guyana, Honduras, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Trinidad and Tobago and United States—issued a joint statement in which they announced their intention to pursue individual and collective measures against 24 designated criminal organizations that operate across the Americas. … [Continue]

16. Dentons: “Going ITAR-Free: Caution and Opportunity”

(Source: Dentons Kensington Swan, 28 Sep 2026) [Excerpts]

Principal Author: Gerard Dale (Auckland), Dentons Kensington Swan, New Zealand

     The case for being “ITAR-free”, currently being advanced by Western European nations has an obvious appeal. Self-sufficiency is popular, dependency is unpopular, and the political mood in European capitals has shifted decisively towards building things at home. This debate has even spread recently to the Western-aligned nations of the Indo-Pacific.
     However, the argument is often made as though decoupling from the US defence industrial base were a simple matter of substitution, where swapping a US-origin component for a local one makes the risk disappear.
     We think it is worth pausing on that assumption before it hardens into policy, because the costs of a genuine decoupling are real and not evenly distributed. At the same time, this shift, if it were to occur, creates genuine commercial opportunities for allied suppliers outside the United States – and New Zealand’s aerospace and defence innovators are well placed to fill any gap.
     This article sets out the case for caution on a full-scale decoupling of Europe or any other western alliance nation from the US defence industry, and then turns to the opportunity that a more selective, better-sequenced version of the ITAR-free agenda could open up for New Zealand Inc.
     The ITAR-free rationale. The International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) is the US’ regime for controlling the export of items on the US Munitions List (USML), including finished defence articles, components, technical data and related services. Its reach is broad by design, and that is precisely the problem for European buyers. …
     The practical consequence is that any onward sale, transfer, re-export, retransfer or transshipment of an item (e.g., a jet, a drone or a piece of ground equipment that contains an ITAR-controlled component ) is likely to require the prior authorisation from the US Directorate of Defense Trade Controls (DDTC) before the transaction can proceed.
     The reach is destination-sensitive as well as transaction-sensitive, the country identified in that approval must be the country of ultimate end-use, and the original US exporter is required to put its foreign consignees and end-users on notice of the retransfer restriction at the time of the initial transaction. … [Continue]

17. Export Practitioner: “China-Based Procurement Firm Concealed Iranian Destination of U.S. Sonar Components”

(Source: The Export Practitioner, 25 Sep 2026) [Excerpts of paywall publication.]

     The case illustrates how overseas intermediaries can conceal the Iranian destination of U.S. technology behind an ostensibly legitimate sale to China. Dindar’s admitted use of false destination claims underscores the importance of verifying the ultimate end user and intended use of sensitive exports, particularly when a third-country buyer arranges onward shipment. . . . [Continue]

18. Volkov: “Shadow AI Is Already Inside Your Organization — A New Survey Shows Just How Widespread It Is”

(Source: Volkov Law, 27 Sep 2026) [Excerpts]

* Principal Author: Michael Volkov, Volkov Law Group LLC

     Deloitte UK just published a workforce survey on generative AI use that every compliance officer should read carefully, because it puts real numbers behind something many of us have suspected for a while: employees aren’t waiting for their employer’s blessing before they start using AI tools at work.
     Nearly a third of generative AI users bring their own tools into the workplace and use them without their employer even knowing. Almost a quarter of UK workers now use generative AI every day on the job. And nearly half of the people using it have never received any formal training on how to do so safely. If you’ve been assuming your organization’s AI governance program covers what’s actually happening on the ground, this survey is a good reason to check that assumption.
     The Gap Between Policy and Practice: …
     Why This Creates Real Compliance Exposure: …

19. Washington Tariff & Trade Letter: “Trump-Xi Summit Extends Trade Truce, Leaves Hard Issues for Next Round”

(Source: Washington Tariff & Trade Letter, 25 Sep 2026) [Excerpts of paywall publication.]

     President Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping used this week’s Washington summit to extend a fragile U.S.-China trade truce and open an AI dialogue, but the meeting left unresolved the core disputes over tariffs, rare earths, semiconductor controls, Taiwan and China’s trade practices.
     The summit produced a short-term stabilization package rather than a broader reset. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the United States and China agreed to extend their trade truce by two months, moving the next deadline to Jan. 10, while talks continue on a larger economic arrangement.
     The extension preserves a pause on the tariff escalation that last year drove duties into triple-digit levels and keeps alive talks on tariff reductions, agricultural purchases, rare earths and technology controls. … [Continue]

20. FD Associates Presents: "ITAR for the Empowered Official” Workshop Webinar 13 October

(Source: Jenny Hahn, [email protected])

* What: “ITAR for the Empowered Official” workshop webinar

* Where: At Your Computer

* When: 13 October 2026 (Tuesday), 9am – 1pm Eastern

* Summary: Only one of its kind! Overview of responsibilities of ITAR Empowered Officials including requirements for making ITAR 126.13 and ITAR Part 130 certifications on licenses and agreements. Discussion of the role of end use/end user statements.

* Presenter: Jenny Hahn, President, FD Associates

* Sponsor: FD Associates, Inc

* Register: HERE. Fourth participant from same company is free. For more information call 703-847-5801 or email HERE.

21. List of Export/Import Job Openings

(Source: Editor)

RECENT:

FULL LIST (Includes above entries.):

23. Bartlett's Unfamiliar Quotations

(Source: Brainy Quotes)

24. Today in History

(Source: History Channel)

25. Do You Need to Update Your Daily Bugle Profile?

(Source: Editor)

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26. Are Your Copies of Export/Import Regulations Current?

(Source: Editor)

The official versions of the following regulations are published annually in the U.S. Code of Federal Regulations (C.F.R.) but are updated as amended in the Federal Register. The latest amendments are listed below.