Riot police approach protesters' barricades in an attempt to disperse a March 4, 2021, demonstration in Naypyidaw, Myanmar, against the military coup.
Without the prospect of international cooperation, the United States is proceeding cautiously with pressure on Myanmar's military government in spite of a week of deadly crackdowns on anti-coup protesters . For now, it is stopping short even from imposing sectoral or deeper country-level trade restrictions, to say nothing of more aggressive financial sanctions, in order to keep Chinese influence in Myanmar from growing . On March 4, the U.S. Department of Commerce Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) made two announcements regarding Myanmar: The BIS added Myanmar military-linked conglomerates Myanmar Economic Holdings Limited (MEHL) and Myanmar Economic Commission (MEC) to the Entity List, a trade blacklist, in addition to the country's Ministry of Defense and Ministry of Home Affairs.
