US President Donald Trump announced on March 22 that he lifted sanctions on two Chinese freight forwarders that were accused of trading illegally with North Korea. The US Treasure had imposed large scale sanctions on these companies, which would be added to the already existing sanctions. However, Mr. Trump intervened to withdraw them.
On March 21 the US Office of Foreign Asset Control added two companies to its sanctions blacklist, both located in Dalian, China.
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One of these companies had allegedly shipped cargo to a North Korean government buyer in Nampo, using North Korean ships, in the beginning of 2018. The second company had allegedly used deceptive practices to assists North Korean operatives buy goods for the North Korean regime.
Commenting on these sanctions, Treasury secretary Steven Mnuchin, mentioned that the Treasure continues to enforce the sanctions. He also made clear that ‘shipping companies employing deceptive tactics to mask illicit trade with North Korea expose themselves to great risk’.
However, last Friday, President Trump ordered the new sanctions to be lifted, with a White House spokesperson saying that this decision was based on the fact that Mr. Trump likes Chairman Kim, and he does not believe that these sanctions will be necessary.
These sanctions specifically refer to unspecified future sanctions on North Korea, with the two companies remaining on the sanctions list.
After this announcement, the Chinese foreign ministry informed that it would start an investigation according to China’s laws, regarding any possible violations that these two companies may have committed.
