The company also responded to concerns from the SEC on possible business operations in other far-flung locales that are subject to U.S. sanctions. The SEC asked Caterpillar in 2014 for further explanation of operations in Syria and Sudan and to explain a news article that mentioned delivery of Caterpillar products from a Ukrainian tractor plant to Cuba. The three countries were designated by the State Department as state sponsors of terrorism, and subject to export controls, according to the SEC filings.