US companies operating in any one of the four countries boycotting Qatar could run afoul of American anti-boycott laws if they are pressured to also sever ties with Qatar, the Associated Press reports. Under obscure tax and export provisions designed decades ago to protect Israel, US companies can be punished if they accept a foreign country’s demand to comply with a boycott not supported by the United States. The provisions were established to ensure American firms aren’t used to advance another nation’s foreign policy. Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain have yet to demand that US companies follow their lead and boycott Qatar, the newswire notes.

Meanwhile, France is calling for the lifting of all sanctions that affect Qatari nationals, French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian told reporters in Doha yesterday after meeting with his Qatari counterpart in their attempt at shuttle diplomacy, Reuters reports. This comes as the UAE’s Minister of State for Foreign Relations Anwar Al Gargash said the countries “are heading toward a long estrangement” and that crisis is “far from a political solution,” the AP reports.