On Thursday, April 28, 2016, the United States and Sri Lanka adopted a joint plan to boost trade between the countries. U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman and Sri Lanka Minister of Development Strategies and International Trade Malik Samarawickrama announced the deal after a meeting
The U.N. Security Council has delayed its vote on the proposed sanctions against North Korea until Wednesday, at the request of Russia.
Last week, the United States and China proposed expanded sanctions against North Korea, which include mandatory inspection of cargo leaving or entering North Korea, by sea or air. The United States and China
The United States and China agreed on draft resolutions, which, if accepted by the United Nations Security Council, would result in increased sanctions against North Korea. The United Nations has enforced sanctions against North Korea since 2006 because of its multiple nuclear tests and
President Obama announced on Thursday that he would travel to Cuba in March and meet with Cuban President Raúl Castro. The two men first met face-to-face during a summit in Panama last year, but President Obama has never visited Cuba. In fact, President Obama will be the first sitting American president to visit Cuba in
As U.S. sanctions on Cuba continue to thaw, some long standing disputes have been reignited. Perhaps chief among them is the decades-old battle over the trademark for “Havana Club” rum.
The original distillery that produced Havana Club rum was expropriated by the Castro regime in the 1960s. After the original distiller’s trademark registration had
Effective today, January 27, 2016, the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) and the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) have further reduced sanctions affecting U.S. relations with Cuba. The amendments to the Cuban Assets Control Regulations (CACR) and Export Administration Regulations (EAR) represent significant steps
As of December 18, 2015, U.S. companies will no longer be required to obtain a license to export crude oil. President Obama signed into law the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2016 (H.R. 2029) that included Section 101 of Division O. The new law ends the 40-year ban on crude oil exports from the U.S.
Effective
Ostensibly, Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) provisions in international trade agreements create a necessary judicial mechanism which empowers international investors to bring actions against host states who act arbitrarily, to the detriment of the international investment. ISDS has, however, long been criticized as a non-transparent, privately run judicial system through which wealthy investment entities can extract