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On August 30, 2026, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum's administration submitted a legislative initiative to the Senate to reform the country's Foreign Investment Law. The proposal aims to create a formal national security screening mechanism for foreign investments in sectors deemed sensitive.

While Mexico's National Commission of Foreign Investment technically has the authority to block foreign acquisitions on national security grounds, this power has been seldom used due to the absence of clear parameters and guidelines. The proposed reform would operationalize this review process, creating new regulatory hurdles and potential uncertainty for cross-border transactions. The development aligns Mexico with a global trend toward more robust foreign investment screening regimes, such as the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS).

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Following the January 2026 removal of Nicolás Maduro, Venezuela is reopening to foreign investment, driven by expanding US sanctions relief and new domestic legislation. The US Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has been incrementally issuing and amending general licenses, authorizing new investment in the country's oil, gas, and telecommunications sectors. This has prompted major US operators to act, with Chevron and Halliburton reportedly nearing multibillion-dollar agreements to expand energy operations. For sophisticated clients, this represents a rare opportunity to enter a market with some of the world’s largest untapped oil reserves, along with significant needs in mining and infrastructure. The evolving legal framework and high-risk environment—including corruption and security concerns—require careful navigation. Counsel should monitor OFAC’s licensing updates and conduct rigorous due diligence, as the durability of the opening may depend on sustained political stability and continued US engagement.

US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has issued an advance notice of proposed rulemaking (ANPRM) signaling a potential shift from document-based compliance to a data-driven, technology-enabled model for supply chain verification. The notice contemplates requiring importers to obtain and potentially submit foreign export documentation, such as declarations and invoices submitted to foreign customs authorities. It also considers replacing the current Manufacturer/Shipper Identification Code (MID) with a more robust system using global business identifiers for all supply chain participants, from producers to packagers.

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The U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) on July 28, 2026, added foreign-produced "advanced robotic devices" to its Covered List, a roster of equipment deemed to pose an unacceptable national security risk. Under the Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Act, listed equipment cannot receive FCC authorization, effectively barring new or modified models from being imported or sold in the U.S. The action, widely seen as targeting Chinese technology, follows similar prohibitions on drones, routers, and power inverters.

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Mexico's executive branch has introduced a bill to establish a formal national security screening process for foreign direct investment (FDI), modeled on the CFIUS regime in the United States. If enacted, the law would create a mandatory, suspensory pre-closing filing for foreign acquisitions of more than 49% equity in Mexican companies operating in broadly defined "sensitive sectors" including critical technology, energy, and strategic infrastructure.

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The IMO's proposed Net-Zero Framework would set mandatory GHG limits and emissions pricing across international shipping, with Tier 1 penalties of $100 and Tier 2 penalties of $380 per tonne of CO2 equivalent for non-compliant fleets. FMC Chairman DiBella has publicly questioned whether the resulting costs on U.S. cargo would be inflationary and whether the regime would displace existing systems like the EU ETS. She has gone further, suggesting the framework could itself become the subject of an FMC investigation. Under 46 U.S.C. §§ 42101-42109 and 46 C.F.R. Part 550, the FMC can probe foreign laws, regulations, or carrier practices that create conditions unfavorable to U.S. foreign commerce, with remedies ranging from fee equalization and sailing limits to per-voyage penalties up to $1 million and, in extreme cases, requests to deny port entry. Sophisticated shippers, carriers, and counsel should reassess tariff surcharges, service-contract allocation clauses, and exposure to retaliation against flag states, while tracking the IMO's London session, the November intersessional, and t

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On August 13, 2026, the White House Office of Trade and Manufacturing Policy released 'The Great Transshipment Scam,' estimating $10 billion to $100+ billion in annual tariff revenue losses from goods routed through Vietnam, Malaysia, Thailand, Mexico, and Cambodia to evade Section 301 tariffs. The same day, DOJ's National Fraud Enforcement Division issued a memorandum identifying global trade and commerce as a primary enforcement focus, covering illicit transshipment, country-of-origin fraud, undervaluation, sanctions evasion, and foreign forced labor schemes. CBP is building an AI 'detective border' that fuses anomaly detection, link analysis, capacity validation, and physical-to-digital verification to flag suspicious routing, bills of lading, origin claims, and container imaging. NFED plans to reach roughly 500 attorneys and staff by late August and continue expanding for two years, deploying sophisticated data analytics. The memo signals that civil customs exposure can escalate to criminal prosecution, with potential coordination across CBP, DOJ, and Commerce. Sophisticated coun

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Corporate compliance programs are now being urged to treat forced-labor prevention with the same rigor as anti-corruption efforts. This shift is driven by aggressive enforcement of laws like the US Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA), which establishes a rebuttable presumption that goods from certain regions are made with forced labor and are therefore banned from importation. The guide explains that this reverses the burden of proof, requiring importers to affirmatively demonstrate that their supply chains are clean through extensive due diligence and traceability measures. For sophisticated counsel and clients, this transforms supply-chain ethics from a reputational concern into a critical legal and business continuity risk. Failure to adapt can lead to shipment seizures, significant financial loss, and severe brand damage. Companies should now be integrating forced-labor risk assessments directly into their existing compliance frameworks and mapping supply chains beyond direct suppliers to prepare for potential enforcement actions.

A U.S. Court of International Trade (CIT) decision that struck down the Biden administration's two-year suspension of certain solar tariffs has created significant uncertainty for the renewables industry. The ruling, which is now being challenged at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, could lead to the imposition of substantial retroactive antidumping and countervailing duties on solar products imported from Southeast Asia between 2022 and 2024. Although the federal government has withdrawn from the appeal, industry groups are pressing on, and collection of the duties remains stayed.

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The International Maritime Organization's (IMO) proposed Net-Zero Framework (NZF), which aims to decarbonize global shipping through emissions limits and carbon pricing, is facing scrutiny from the U.S. Federal Maritime Commission (FMC). The framework could significantly increase shipping costs for U.S. importers and exporters via fuel mandates and financial penalties for non-compliance, such as a proposed $380 per tonne of CO2 equivalent. These costs, if passed on by carriers, could be deemed unjust practices under the U.S. Shipping Act. FMC Chair Ann-Dora DiBella has publicly stated the framework could trigger an investigation under the FMC's seldom-used Section 19 authority, which addresses foreign laws or practices unfavorable to U.S. trade. Such a finding could lead to significant remedies, including per-voyage fees up to $1 million or denial of U.S. port entry. Counsel for carriers and shippers should monitor upcoming IMO negotiations and the FMC's posture, as what began as a global climate initiative could become a contentious U.S. trade policy dispute requiring contractual ri

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The Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States' (CFIUS) annual report for calendar year 2025 shows a 7% increase in total filings, driven by a sharp rise in short-form declarations. However, the data reveals tougher scrutiny, as the proportion of declarations cleared by the Committee fell from approximately 78% in 2024 to 66% in 2025. Consequently, CFIUS requested parties to submit a more extensive full notice in 26% of declaration cases, up from 15% the prior year, creating potential for significant deal delays.

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