The United States…announced a work-around in its Myanmar sanctions regime to allow trade through ports and other infrastructure run by cronies of the former ruling junta, drawing sharp criticism from a leading Republican lawmaker.

The action by the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control, or OFAC, follows complaints from banks that they could not finance trade that goes through the nation's main port terminal in Yangon because it is run by blacklisted business tycoon Steven Law, who has been accused of ties to the drugs trade.

Senior Obama administration officials said the six-month waiver is designed to clear a roadblock to trade and prevent U.S. banks pulling out of the Myanmar market because of the risk of sanctions violation and increased compliance costs. U.S. companies are still barred from trading directly with blacklisted companies but human rights groups oppose the waiver as a retrograde step…