Since the February 1, 2021, coup, the U.S. government has designated numerous leaders of the State Administration Council (SAC), their adult family members, and other regime individuals who have overseen violence against civilians or aided the regime’s suppression of the people’s democratic will. Sanctions have also targeted regime-affiliated entities and key revenue streams through specific state-owned banks.  The goal of these sanctions is to curtail the regime’s access to foreign currency used to procure weapons. Sanction notifications from the United States can be found at https://www.whitehouse.gov/ and https://www.state.gov/burma-sanctions/

The U.S. Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) also imposed restrictions on the export of “critical items” to the regime military. American vendors must apply for a special permit to export certain restricted, sensitive commodities to the regime Ministries of Defense and Home Affairs, relevant military units, and security services. Visit https://www.bis.doc.gov/ for additional information. 

U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai issued a statement in March 2021 suspending U.S. engagement with Burma under the 2013 Trade and Investment Framework Agreement (TIFA) until the return of a democratically elected government. Visit https://www.ustr.gov/ for further details. 

In October 2022 the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) added Burma to the high-risk jurisdictions list due to the Central Bank’s failure to address strategic deficiencies in combating money laundering, terrorist financing, and proliferation financing. FATF continually reviews Burma’s progress addressing its deficiencies and could implement additional conditions for bank transactions involving Burma. 

For more information, please check https://www.fatf-gafi.org/en/countries/black-and-grey-lists.html.