[co-author: Humzah Irfan] At Sullivan's monthly seminar in December, Mark Norris, partner at Sullivan’s London office, reflected on a roller-coaster year in 2020, breaking down key trade finance related events and picking up on common themes with a view on how issues from 2020 might feed into 2021. Key points from Mark’s presentation included: Sanctions – President Trump’s use of the US sanctions regime has been keen to say the least, with US secondary sanctions having a wide, extrajudicial impact on financial markets. This extrajudicial reach was explored by the Court of Appeal in Lamesa Investment Ltd v Cynergy Bank Ltd, which considered whether the failure to tender payment under an English law facility agreement was excusable by virtue of US secondary sanctions. The UK’s Global Human Rights Sanctions Regulations 2020 will likely result in more onerous due diligence processes in the future. Watch this space.