The U.S. House of Representatives passed the “Sanctions List Harmonization Act” earlier this week, aiming to strengthen interagency coordination to prevent adversaries such as the CCP from evading sanctions. On Thursday, Senators from both parties promptly introduced a companion version in the Senate, which is expected to enhance the sanctioning power of the United States.
This bill requires the U.S. Department of the Treasury, Department of Commerce, and Department of Defense to notify each other when adding a foreign individual or entity to the sanctions list, reducing the occurrence of asynchrony in sanctioning among different agencies.
Previously, U.S. federal agencies imposed sanctions separately on individuals and entities. For example, Rifen Technology based in Shenzhen is a major manufacturer of China’s inertial navigation system. The U.S. Department of Commerce determined in December 2021 that Rifen Technology engaged in activities that violated U.S. national security, and it was added to the Entity List. However, it wasn’t until July of this year that the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) under the U.S. Department of the Treasury announced sanctions against it. Similar cases include sanctions imposed on over ten companies such as the AI company Megvii Technology and the drone company DJI.
Elaine Dezenski, Senior Director of the Economic and Financial Power Center at the Washington-based think tank Foundation for Defense of Democracies, stated that there had been a lack of communication between U.S. government departments, which limited the effectiveness of U.S. policies.
She told Voice of America that there was a “silo effect” between government departments, preventing sanctions and control measures from being fully effective.
In a statement released by Rubio and Merkley, they expressed that different standards had been applied by U.S. government agencies in sanctioning opponents and preventing them from engaging in U.S. economic activities in the past.
“Our biggest foreign adversaries, such as China (CCP), have benefited from this lack of interagency coordination, which must be terminated immediately,” the statement said.
Rubio emphasized, “The U.S. must enhance interagency coordination and prevent bad actors like the CCP, Russia, and Iran from exploiting disconnected policies. We must take measures to address the reality of our adversaries evading U.S. sanctions.”
Merkley stated, “As authoritarian regimes and actors around the world continue to undermine people’s freedoms and basic human rights, the United States must take clear and decisive actions through sanctions.”
He added, “By ensuring that federal agencies can take a coordinated approach when reviewing and sanctioning bad actors attempting to circumvent U.S. laws, we will continue to defend those who resist authoritarian oppression.”
Merkley is the co-chair of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China (CECC), while Rubio is a member and former chair of the commission.