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The US sanctions regime against Iran reached a critical inflection point this week. General Licence X (GLX), issued by OFAC on 22 June 2026 to authorise the production, delivery, and sale of Iranian-origin crude oil and petrochemical products (including associated shipping, port operations, insurance underwriting, financing, and US dollar payments), was revoked on 7 July following Iranian attacks
The United States activated the second-stage statutory sanctions mechanism under the Chemical and Biological Weapons Control and Warfare Elimination Act (CBW Act) against Sudan's Armed Forces (SAF), effective 20 July 2026. The designation stems from a formal US government determination — made in April 2025 — that the SAF used chlorine barrel bombs north of Khartoum in 2024. The SAF's failure to ce
Colombia is undergoing a presidential transition with contested legitimacy: outgoing President Gustavo Petro alleges that tally-sheet metadata was manipulated by programmers after results were transmitted to the national registrar, that foreign entities influenced the election, and that the result is "illegitimate." The incoming conservative president, Abelardo de la Espriella, won the June electi
The IBA Global Insight August/September 2026 issue highlights a structural tension: the Iran War has directly tested the coherence of the Russia sanctions regime. The UK Parliament Research Library briefing updated on 4 August records 3,450 designations under the UK Russia regime as of 24 July 2026, including 620 shadow-fleet vessels — the largest category of designation. New UK measures include t
The EU adopted its 21st package of Russia sanctions on 23 July 2026 — the largest in terms of individual designations in four years. The package covers: 48 individuals and 170 entities subject to asset freeze and travel ban; 33 Russian banks newly subject to transaction bans; 94 Russian banks and financial institutions total (with prior transaction bans expanded to include asset freezes); new thir
The EU AI Act's high-risk AI system obligations — including Article 10 data governance requirements — became enforceable on 2 August 2026, creating a new layer of data-sovereignty obligations that operate simultaneously with existing GDPR Chapter V cross-border transfer requirements. For law firms and their enterprise clients deploying or procuring high-risk AI systems: Article 10 requires documen
The Trump administration's executive order restricting mail-in voting is generating multi-circuit litigation with direct implications for the November 2026 midterm elections. The Solicitor General has asked the Supreme Court to issue an administrative stay allowing full implementation; a district judge has blocked portions of the order in 23 states and Washington, DC; the First Circuit declined to
A coalition of 25 Democratic-led states filed a complaint in the US Court of International Trade on August 3 challenging tariffs of 10% or 12.5% imposed on goods from 60 US trading partners — economies collectively accounting for 99.4% of US imports. The tariffs were announced on July 23, one day before temporary Section 122 tariffs expired; the states allege this timing demonstrates the administr
A significant commercial litigation has been filed in the English High Court that may define how index-linked contracts respond to geopolitical disruption of benchmark routes. Mercuria Energy Trading S.A. sued Baltic Exchange Information Services Limited, claiming that the TD3C benchmark — which tracks freight rates for Very Large Crude Carriers transporting crude oil from the Gulf to China — no l
The ceasefire periods in June and late July 2026, followed by resumed hostilities, have created a litigation-accelerant dynamic in which parties that paused commercial disputes during ceasefire negotiations are now converting those positions into formal proceedings. Mishcon de Reya's August 3 analysis identifies the primary dispute categories: (1) force majeure and war-risk clause invocations for
AFS Law's July 2026 customs and trade roundup documents two significant enforcement-adjacent actions. OFAC revoked its Iranian oil general license after just two weeks, following renewed attacks in the Strait of Hormuz, leaving only a short wind-down window — illustrating how rapidly sanctions authorizations can reverse in the US-Iran military conflict context. Separately, BIS revised its licensin
The European Commission reported on July 30 that the third round of EU-Canada digital trade agreement negotiations made substantial progress on cross-border data flows, privacy and personal data protection, bans on prior authorization requirements, and e-contracts. A fourth negotiating round is now being arranged. The development is significant in context: the EU's digital trade negotiation with C
Mondaq's analysis (July 29) provides the most useful structural map of where US tariffs now stand. The current architecture has three layers: Section 301 forced-labor duties (10–12.5%, effective July 24, covering 60 economies); Section 232 national security duties on steel, aluminum, autos, and semiconductors (sector-specific, pre-existing); and active Section 301 investigations into EU digital se
Effective July 24, 2026, the Trump administration imposed 10% tariffs on approximately 60 economies that have adopted forced-labor import prohibitions, and 12.5% on those that have not, under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974 — covering roughly 99.4% of US imports. The duties replaced the expiring 10% Section 122 across-the-board surcharge, itself a replacement for the IEEPA "Liberation Day" re
A July 24 analysis by Sheppard Mullin documents the downstream legal risk from the Supreme Court's Trump v. Slaughter decision: by creating uncertainty about the independence of the Federal Trade Commission — which is the enforcement backbone of the EU-US Data Privacy Framework (DPF) — the ruling has prompted Max Schrems and NOYB to formally ask the European Commission to review the adequacy decis
A federal appeals court (First Circuit) blocked key provisions of Trump's executive order restricting mail-in voting on July 25, with judges from both Biden and George W. Bush appointees voting to uphold the block. The administration then filed an emergency application with the Supreme Court on July 27, seeking to lift the injunction ahead of November's midterm elections. The legal argument from t
The Liberty Justice Center filed suit in the US Court of International Trade on July 24, 2026, within hours of the Section 301 forced-labor tariffs taking effect — the same organization whose litigation produced the Supreme Court's February 2026 IEEPA ruling. The lawsuit argues Trump's 10–12.5% duties are an unlawful attempt to restore the global tariff policy the Supreme Court already struck down
Federal Law No. 265-FZ was published and entered force on July 26, 2026, amending Article 12 of Russia's Federal Law on Personal Data (152-FZ). The law removes all references to the Council of Europe Convention 108 from Russian data protection legislation, eliminating the presumption that European servers provide adequate protection for Russian personal data. Roskomnadzor now has explicit authorit
JURIST reported July 24 that UN special rapporteurs have formally decried resumed US-Iran strikes, citing the Geneva Conventions' civilian protection obligations and customary international humanitarian law principles — specifically the principles of distinction, proportionality, and precaution articulated in Additional Protocol I (which the US has not ratified but acknowledges as customary in its
The 10% global blanket tariff under Section 122 expires at 12:01 AM July 24, 2026 — the statutory 150-day limit. The replacement mechanism is USTR's Section 301 forced-labor duties, finding all 60 nations deficient as of June 2. Proposed rates: 10% on 15 countries with existing forced-labor frameworks (Canada, Mexico, UK, EU, Switzerland, Norway, and others); 12.5% on 46 countries including China,
USTR concluded its 12-month Section 301 investigation on July 15 and announced a 25% tariff on most Brazilian imports (HTSUS 9903.05.01) effective July 22, 2026. Covered categories span digital trade, electronic payment services, IP protection, ethanol market access, anti-corruption enforcement, and illegal deforestation. Carve-outs include Section 232 goods (steel, aluminum, copper, autos), civil
Three presidential proclamations under Section 338 of the Tariff Act of 1930 — a near-century-old statute — target Canadian motor vehicles, wine/beer, dairy, hockey sticks, cement, furniture, and refrigeration machinery with 50% tariffs effective August 19. Critically, these tariffs are NOT blocked by USMCA qualification, unlike USMCA-compliant goods that were exempt from Section 122. Canadian 25%
Following a Section 232 investigation citing 54% of US patented pharmaceuticals manufactured abroad, a 100% baseline tariff on pharmaceuticals takes effect for Annex III companies on July 31, with remaining companies following September 29. Company/country-specific exclusions and rate reductions exist for approved onshoring commitments; EU/Switzerland/UK/Japan rates are aligned with trade agreemen
OFAC issued General License X1 on July 7, superseding GL X and terminating the sanctions waiver for Iranian oil exports structured to run through August 21. In the 16 authorized days (June 22–July 7), approximately 20 Iranian tankers moved ~70 million barrels generating an estimated $5–6bn in export revenue before the ceasefire talks collapsed. Cargoes loaded before July 7 face payment and clearan
The bipartisan Sanctioning Russia Act (S. 1241, July 10) would impose up to 100% tariffs on the top five purchasers of Russian crude oil or natural gas, with an exception for countries importing less than 15% of Russia's natural gas and taking "significant steps" to reduce. Mandatory sanctions on Putin, senior military/political leaders, oligarchs, state-owned enterprises, banks, the shadow fleet,
The US declined to extend USMCA at the first joint review (effective July 1, 2026). The agreement remains fully operational but now enters a 10-year annual review cycle until 2036, with a 6-month withdrawal notice required for actual termination. This increases policy uncertainty for over $1.6 trillion in annual North American trade. A subsequent 6-month withdrawal notice could be triggered at any
Singapore, Philippines, and Thailand privacy regulators speaking at a July 23 privacy forum called for targeted rather than broad data localization mandates, advocating interoperable transfer mechanisms, accountability frameworks, and privacy-enhancing technologies. The position contrasts with the EU's regulatory direction and reflects a deliberate policy choice by ASEAN members to compete for dat
EU Council Regulation 2026/382 abolished the €150 customs exemption for low-value shipments effective July 1, 2026, replacing it with a €3 flat customs duty per item category — a direct targeting of the Temu/Shein/AliExpress direct-shipping model. The EU simultaneously cut steel import quotas 47% (from ~33M to 18.3M tonnes), doubled penalty duties to 50% through 2031, and introduced "melt and pour
The Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) removed the UAE from Country Groups D:3 and D:4 on July 10, adding it to Country Group A:5 (close US allies). UAE government and approved entities now gain license-free access to advanced computing items for AI development and eligibility for License Exception STA. The upgrade is a significant geopolitical signal — positioning the UAE as the Gulf's preferr
Secretary Rubio announced on July 8 that President Trump has informed Congress of his intention to rescind Syria's State Sponsor of Terrorism designation — in place since 1979. The 45-day pre-notification process has begun, with rescission expected around August 22, 2026. Rescission will remove Syria from Country Group E:1 under the Export Administration Regulations, opening significantly broader
The World AI Cooperation Organization (WAICO), launched at a Shanghai summit on July 16 with 29 nations (no EU members), formalized a third incompatible AI governance architecture alongside the EU AI Act and US industry self-regulation. EU AI Act Article 50 transparency obligations apply from August 2, 2026. The tripartite governance split — EU (mandatory, risk-based, Article 50 August 2), US (ind
A Jipyong law firm seminar (July 20) in Seoul highlighted the dual compliance risk now embedded in Chinese supply chains: complying with US sanctions on China may violate China's Anti-Foreign Sanctions Law. China's State Council Decree No. 839 (Mineral Resources Law, June 15) authorizes "countermeasures" against "discriminatory" foreign restrictions on critical minerals. Korean manufacturers face
FATF's July 16 update found 83% of surveyed jurisdictions have now passed Travel Rule legislation for crypto asset transfers, up from 73% a year earlier. Stablecoin activity is emerging as the next enforcement focus. DPRK and Iran countermeasures are maintained; Myanmar requires enhanced due diligence. The Travel Rule's near-global adoption marks the maturation of crypto AML compliance as a standa
The AI OVERWATCH Act, MATCH Act, and Chip Security Act all advanced through the House Foreign Affairs Committee, pushing for inclusion in the FY2027 NDAA. The Chip Security Act would mandate location verification and geotracking for exported chips. The AI OVERWATCH Act would tighten oversight of AI chip exports to prevent training of foreign military and intelligence AI. The MATCH Act would align
On June 29, 2026, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 6–3 in *Trump v. Slaughter* that the FTC's for-cause removal protection — which since *Humphrey's Executor* (1935) had prohibited presidents from removing commissioners without cause — is unconstitutional, and that officers exercising executive power must be removable by the president at will. The DPF adequacy decision (Commission Implementing Decisio
On July 13, 2026, Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced a "sweeping campaign to dismantle the threat posed by the International Criminal Court to US sovereignty" — a whole-of-government effort to "systematically disable the ICC's ability to operate, target American servicemen or officials, or otherwise threaten American sovereignty." The campaign's tools include: increased sanctions against the
The Trump administration this week escalated its campaign to assert federal control over the 2026 midterm elections, directing the DOJ to demand comprehensive voter files from all states, pursuing a national voter database, and issuing executive orders on election administration — at least two of which have been blocked by federal courts. The administration fired both Democratic members of the Ele
The European Commission on July 8, 2026 referred Ireland, Spain, France, and the Netherlands to the Court of Justice of the European Union for failing to notify the Commission of full NIS2 Directive transposition into national law. The referral is a CJEU Article 258 infringement proceeding — available remedies include financial penalties against member states and a binding order to complete transp
The July 1, 2026 USMCA joint review concluded without renewal: the United States declined to extend the agreement in its current form, triggering the annual review mechanism under Article 34.7 that keeps the agreement in force but subjects it to annual renegotiation until 2036. The first annual review session began July 20, 2026, with Mexico immediately signaling it would target auto and steel tar
The UK–India Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement Chapter 12 on Digital Trade entered into force on July 15, 2026. The chapter reduces barriers to digital trade, supports legal recognition of electronic contracts and authentication, includes source code protections (firms cannot be required to transfer or disclose source code), and safeguards consumers against harmful commercial practices in
Amnesty International, the European Union, and a coalition of international actors this week publicly rejected the US ICC dismantlement campaign, with Amnesty calling it "reprehensible" and urging states to "push back against" it, and with EU officials affirming continued financial and political support for the court. The collision between the US campaign and the ICC's allied-state support base cr
The European Commission presented an Action Plan on Cybersecurity and Artificial Intelligence on July 7, 2026, aimed at supporting safe and responsible AI use while strengthening cyber resilience across the EU. The following day, July 8, it also presented the proposed Cloud and AI Development Act as part of the AI Continent Action Plan — a framework intended to address cloud concentration risk, pr
OFAC recorded eight separate sanction actions in the seven-day window ending July 16, across Iran, Cuba, Russia, cyber-related, counter-terrorism, non-proliferation, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Iran led volume: designations and a designation update on July 14, designations and a new general license on July 10, and an amended general license on July 8. Russia saw an amended general li
The European Commission opened a targeted consultation on safeguarding EU data sovereignty on July 8, 2026, running through September 8, 2026. The consultation covers four areas: data-related dependencies, barriers to accessing or using data in third countries, obstacles to transferring data back into the EU, and risks linked to third-country access to sensitive data. The exercise connects the Clo
On July 1, 2026, the USMCA Free Trade Commission held its mandatory six-year joint review under Article 34.7, and the United States declined to confirm a 16-year extension, with USTR Ambassador Jamieson Greer stating the US "did not agree to renew the USMCA in its current form," even as Mexico and Canada both confirmed support for renewal. For law firms advising North American supply chain clients
On June 29, 2026, the US Supreme Court issued Trump v. Slaughter, a separation-of-powers ruling holding that restrictions on presidential authority to remove executive officials — including at the Federal Trade Commission — are unconstitutional; while the opinion never mentions the GDPR or the Data Privacy Framework, privacy advocates including Max Schrems and noyb argue it undermines the FTC's in
Three ICC judges — Kimberly Prost, Solomy Balungi Bossa, and Reine Sophie Alini-Gou — filed suit in federal court in Manhattan on June 25, arguing that US sanctions imposed on them under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act are unlawful, exceed IEEPA's scope, and function as a "financial death penalty" by cutting off banking, credit, and online services. The Trump administration respond
Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control designated a Kigali-based gold refinery, its executives, and affiliated Rwandan mining companies on June 25 for laundering gold mined in M23/Rwanda Defence Force-occupied territory in eastern Congo, followed on June 26 by sanctions on eight individuals and entities tied to procurement and recruitment networks sustaining Sudan's civil war. For sanctions a
The Supreme Court issued two major election-law rulings in the final days of June: on June 29, it upheld state grace periods allowing mail-in ballots postmarked by Election Day but received afterward (a loss for the Trump administration, authored by Justice Amy Coney Barrett over a four-justice dissent), and on June 30, in National Republican Senatorial Committee v. FEC, it struck down FECA's coor
The European Union's regulatory filing confirming its side of the EU-US trade agreement took effect July 1, 2026, removing import duties on a range of US goods and applying through December 31, 2029, with built-in safeguards allowing the EU to suspend concessions if Washington breaches the deal's terms. Trade counsel should flag the sunset date and snap-back mechanism to clients now, since the fou
The Irish Data Protection Commission opened an inquiry this month into an online fashion retailer's transfers of EU and EEA personal data from its Irish entity to China, examining compliance with GDPR Article 5, Article 13, and Chapter V, with particular scrutiny on whether the arrangement guarantees protection "essentially equivalent" to EU standards. Separately, the Dutch data protection authori
Following months of delay, the European Commission finalized membership of the AI Act's Advisory Forum (172 members) and Scientific Panel (60 independent experts) this month and published the final Code of Practice on marking and labelling AI-generated content, with OpenAI the first major provider to commit to signing it; in parallel, the Commission's Tech Sovereignty Package — including the Cloud
A New Space Economy analysis published June 25 documents how the European Commission has fused AI regulation with industrial policy into a single strategic program. The combined framework now encompasses the AI Act, the AI Continent Action Plan, the Apply AI Strategy, the European Data Union Strategy, AI Factories, planned AI gigafactories, and the proposed Cloud and AI Development Act (CADA). The
Austria formally urged European institutions this week to provide infrastructure and incentives to host Anthropic following U.S.-imposed restrictions on AI model exports and access. The move reflects a broader European anxiety, articulated sharply in a Euronews commentary published June 30: "America can switch off the world's AI. Europe must switch gears before it's too late." The commentary argue
Bloomberg reported June 25 that the US is actively seeking an AI partnership with the EU covering both regulatory alignment and supply chain coordination. The outreach comes as the two sides are moving in structurally different directions: the US toward federal preemption and a permissive innovation framework, the EU toward layered regulation combined with industrial sovereignty infrastructure. Th
China escalated its counter-measures this week, sanctioning 56 U.S. companies — including rare-earth miners, defense-linked firms, and Alibaba's U.S.-facing entities — in direct retaliation for a Pentagon "CMC List" designation. The sanctions impose asset freezes within China and prohibit any Chinese entity or individual from conducting business with the listed firms, effective June 30. Alibaba se
The European Parliament on June 16 adopted its plenary position on the Digital Omnibus on AI, provisionally deferring the AI Act's Annex III high-risk AI system obligations from August 2, 2026 to December 2, 2027, and Annex I embedded systems to August 2, 2028. The deferral follows the political agreement reached on May 7 and is not yet formally adopted — formal Council adoption and Official Journ
Two drone incidents in May–June 2026 — a Russian aerial drone striking civilians in Romania's Galați and a Ukrainian naval drone detonating at Romania's Constanța port — have produced the most significant international law dispute on NATO territory since the war began. Romania's Foreign Ministry formally characterized the Galați strike as a serious violation of international law. Jurist analysis c
Clyde & Co's June 25 global risk research finds that 86% of business leaders now rate technological risk as high impact (up from 46% last year); 72% say geopolitical risk is having direct commercial impact (up from 49%); and 85% cite regulatory/compliance burden as high impact (up from 54%). Four in five organizations say geopolitical shifts are influencing where and how they operate globally. The
U.S. Customs and Border Protection issued two new Withhold Release Orders on June 23 targeting garment producers Needle Craft Ltd. and Casual Wear Apparel LLC in Jordan, and confirmed a separate WRO against Serbia Zijin Copper — the second Serbian operation targeted in six months. WROs immediately trigger detention of all shipments at U.S. ports of entry, requiring importers to either re-export go
Armenia's June 7, 2026 parliamentary election returned Nikol Pashinyan's Civil Contract Party with a majority — but not the supermajority needed for constitutional reform, leaving the final Nagorno-Karabakh peace accord with Azerbaijan legally blocked. The result deepens Armenia's strategic pivot away from Russian security dependence toward EU institutional integration, but Russian energy and econ
A UN independent commission released findings on June 23, 2026, concluding that Israeli security forces' actions in Gaza since October 7, 2023 meet the legal criteria for genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes — including intentional targeting of Palestinian children. The commission cited multiple acts that were "widespread and systematic," satisfying the Rome Statute threshold for crim
The EU gave final Council approval on June 25 to legislation implementing the July 2025 EU-US tariff framework, meeting Trump's July 4 deadline by days. Under the deal, the EU removes import duties on all U.S. industrial goods and grants preferential access to U.S. seafood and agricultural products; the U.S. caps tariffs on most EU exports at 15%, covering autos, pharmaceuticals, and semiconductor
On June 3, the European Commission published the Cloud and AI Development Act (CADA), the centerpiece of its Technological Sovereignty Package. CADA introduces a four-level sovereignty assurance framework for cloud procurements by EU public authorities: Level 1 requires EU-hosted servers; Level 2 prohibits third-country data access or kill-switch authority; Level 3 requires the provider not be sub
The U.S. Supreme Court this week issued three immigration decisions with sweeping legal implications. In *Mullin v. Al Otro Lado*, the Court upheld CBP "metering" — stationing agents at the borderline to exclude asylum seekers from ports of entry — as lawful. A second 6-3 ruling allows DHS to terminate Temporary Protected Status for Haitian and Syrian nationals without judicial review. A third dec
The Association of Corporate Counsel released a June 25 flash poll of 168 GCs and deputy GCs finding that 41% of manufacturing in-house counsel face geopolitical crisis-driven legal pivots at least weekly — nearly three times the overall rate. Key structural findings: over half of organizations rely on informal or ad hoc approaches to geopolitical risk governance; 52% have not revised standard con