U.S. expands skilled-worker visa fee to renewals.
Today's events
Skilled-worker visas.
Homeland Security's final rule extends the $2,000 H-1B and $2,250 L-1 surcharge to every extension petition filed by large visa-dependent employers, including renewals with the same employer; effective September 9.1Aug 10 · DHSCaribbean cables.
The State Department announced a new Caribbean and Central America undersea-cable initiative in Punta Cana and urged regional governments to exclude untrusted vendors from their telecom networks.2Aug 9 · StateColombia drug flights.
President Trump certified Colombia's need to interdict aircraft suspected of drug trafficking in its own airspace, and that Colombia can identify and warn a plane before force is directed against it.3Aug 10 · Fed. Reg.Boycott list.
Treasury published its current list of the eight countries that require or may require participation in an international boycott: Iraq, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria and Yemen.4Aug 10 · TreasuryStainless pipe duties.
Commerce opened antidumping investigations into welded stainless pipe from India, Türkiye and the United Arab Emirates, plus subsidy cases against India and Türkiye. Petitioners: Bristol Pipe and Tube, Felker Brothers, Primus Pipe and Tube.5Aug 10 · CommerceGuyana and Trinidad.
Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau travels to Trinidad and Tobago and Guyana through August 12, meeting Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar and President Irfaan Ali on energy and critical minerals.6Aug 9 · StateCancer blood test.
The Food and Drug Administration set a September 23 advisory-panel meeting on GRAIL's Galleri multi-cancer screening blood test and opened a public docket for comment through September 16.7Aug 10 · FDAFair housing rule.
Housing and Urban Development proposed stripping disparate-impact liability from its civil-rights regulations, aligning them with the Justice Department's revised rules and reopening comment on January's proposal to scrap the standard.8Aug 10 · HUDTruck-driver English rule.
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration proposed making a failed English-proficiency check an out-of-service violation, codifying the North American inspection standard at the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance's request.9Aug 10 · DOT
This week
American mining.
Trump announced more than $2 billion in critical-minerals projects on August 7: $1.4 billion for silicon-carbon battery anodes, $400 million for the world's first primary scandium mine, and $150 million for rare-earth-free magnets. The same week a defense allocation order placed recoverable minerals under federal priority, and the trade representative welcomed new gallium, germanium, tungsten and antimony benchmarks as groundwork for border-adjusted price floors (Aug 9 brief).1Aug 7 · WHPolysilicon tariffs.
A presidential proclamation issued August 6 sets a minimum import price for polysilicon, the base material for semiconductors and solar cells, plus a 15 percent tariff on downstream goods, effective in 120 days. It landed the same week government auditors reported that Commerce had canceled $7.8 billion of the $11 billion Congress appropriated for advanced chip research (Aug 7 brief).2Aug 6 · WHIran's crypto pipeline.
The United States sanctioned six entities and one individual on August 7, including two digital-asset exchanges Tehran uses to reach the international financial system, and offered up to $15 million for information disrupting Revolutionary Guard finances. The State Department linked the action to Iran's attacks on commercial vessels in the Strait of Hormuz that week. A Senate resolution introduced August 6 would pull U.S. forces from unauthorized hostilities with Iran (Aug 8 brief).3Aug 7 · StateColombia reset.
A U.S. delegation attended the August 7 inauguration of Colombia's new president, Abelardo de la Espriella. Washington then said it intends to announce $1 billion in security assistance, welcomed Colombia into the Shield of the Americas, and on August 10 certified that Colombia may interdict suspected drug flights in its own airspace. The week's other hemispheric moves were $102 million in bounties for eight Mexican cartel leaders and sanctions on Cuban arms procurement.4Aug 7 · StateChina measures.
Three agencies moved on the same axis in one week. The President extended for a year the 2023 emergency restricting U.S. investment in sensitive foreign technology (August 5). Washington rejected Beijing's “national nature reserve” at Scarborough Reef, which bars Filipino fishermen from grounds recognized in the 2016 arbitral ruling (August 8). And in Punta Cana the State Department launched a Caribbean undersea-cable initiative, urging governments to exclude untrusted vendors from their networks (August 9).5Aug 5–9 · Fed. Reg. / StateAir-traffic datalink.
Cybersecurity officials published five vulnerabilities on August 7 in the unauthenticated, clear-text link that carries controller-pilot clearances worldwide. Rogue ground stations can inject false instructions or reset sessions, and no mitigation is available. It was one of several cyber items in a week that also saw four actively exploited software flaws added to the federal must-patch list (Aug 8 brief).7Aug 7 · CISA
Allied Governments
British subscription traps.
Prime Minister Andy Burnham announced a ban on misleading discounts and “easy to exit” subscription rules from January 2027, targeting the £1.6 billion Britons spend yearly on subscriptions they do not want.aAug 9 · UK No.10
Voices
“Colombia has appropriate procedures in place to protect against innocent loss of life in the air and on the ground in connection with such interdiction.”
Presidential Memorandum on Colombia · Aug 103
“The changes also help DHS comply with its congressional mandate to implement a biometric entry-exit system.”
9-11 Biometric Fee final rule, Homeland Security · Aug 101
“U.S. officials engaged Caribbean governments to exclude untrusted vendors from their ICT ecosystems and adopt an upgraded and secure approach to network modernization.”
Office of the Spokesperson, U.S. Dept. of State · Aug 92
“On the basis of the best information currently available to the Department of the Treasury, the following countries require or may require participation in, or cooperation with, an international boycott.”
International Tax Counsel James Wang, Treasury · Aug 104
“HUD is proposing to remove provisions in HUD's Title VI implementing regulations that impose disparate-impact liability on recipients of HUD Federal financial assistance.”
Supplemental rulemaking notice, Housing and Urban Development · Aug 108
“[I]mports of welded stainless pipe from India, Türkiye, and the UAE are being, or are likely to be, sold in the United States at less than fair value.”
Initiation of Less-Than-Fair-Value Investigations, Commerce · Aug 105
Sources
- U.S. Dept. of Homeland Security, “9-11 Response and Biometric Entry-Exit Fee for H-1B and L-1 Visas” (final rule), August 10, 2026. federalregister.gov/…/biometric-fee-h-1b-l-1
- U.S. Dept. of State, “United States Advances Trusted Digital Infrastructure at CANTO 2026,” August 9, 2026. state.gov/releases/…/canto-2026
- Federal Register, “Continuation of U.S. Drug Interdiction Assistance to the Government of Colombia” (presidential memorandum), August 10, 2026. federalregister.gov/…/colombia-drug-interdiction
- U.S. Dept. of the Treasury, “List of Countries Requiring Cooperation With an International Boycott,” August 10, 2026. federalregister.gov/…/international-boycott-list
- U.S. Dept. of Commerce, “Welded Stainless Line and Pressure Pipe From India, the Republic of Türkiye, and the United Arab Emirates: Initiation of Less-Than-Fair-Value Investigations,” August 10, 2026. federalregister.gov/…/welded-stainless-pipe-ltfv
- U.S. Dept. of State, “Deputy Secretary Landau's Travel to Trinidad and Tobago and Guyana,” August 9, 2026. state.gov/releases/…/landau-trinidad-guyana
- U.S. Food and Drug Administration, “Molecular and Clinical Genetics Panel of the Medical Devices Advisory Committee; Notice of Meeting — GRAIL, Inc. Galleri,” August 10, 2026. federalregister.gov/…/grail-galleri-panel
- U.S. Dept. of Housing and Urban Development, “HUD's Implementation of the Fair Housing Act's Disparate Impact Standard; Amendments to HUD's Title VI Regulations,” August 10, 2026. federalregister.gov/…/hud-disparate-impact
- Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, “English Language Proficiency; Out of Service Criteria” (proposed rule), August 10, 2026. federalregister.gov/…/elp-out-of-service
- UK Prime Minister's Office (No.10), “PM starts roll out of ‘everyday fixes’ on the cost of living – ending rip-off discounts and subscription traps,” August 9, 2026. gov.uk/government/news/…/everyday-fixes-cost-of-living