United States lifted sanctions designations on several allies of Myanmar’s ruling generals, two weeks after the head of the ruling junta praised President Donald Trump and called for an easing of sanctions in a letter responding to a tariff warning.
Human Rights Watch called the move ‘extremely worrying’ and said it suggested a major shift was underway in US policy toward Myanmar’s military, which overthrew a democratically elected government in 2021 and has been implicated in crimes against humanity and genocide.
A notice from the US Treasury Department said KT Services & Logistics and its founder, Jonathan Myo Kyaw Thaung; the MCM Group and its owner Aung Hlaing Oo; and Suntac Technologies and its owner Sit Taing Aung; and another individual, Tin Latt Min, were being removed from the US sanctions list. KT Services & Logistics and Jonathan Myo Kyaw Thaung were added to the sanctions list in January 2022 under the Biden administration in a step timed to mark the first anniversary of the military seizure of power in Myanmar that plunged the country into chaos.
Sit Taing Aung and Aung Hlaing Oo were placed on the sanctions list the same year for operating in Myanmar’s defense sector. Tin Latt Min, identified as another close associate of the military rulers, was placed on the list in 2024 to mark the third anniversary of the coup.
On July 11, Myanmar’s ruling military general, Min Aung Hlaing, asked Trump in a letter for a reduction in the 40 percent tariff rate on his country’s exports to the US and said he was ready to send a negotiating team to Washington if needed.
US Announces Sanctions Against Myanmar Military for ‘Facilitating’ Cyber Scams
