The solar industry is starting to get whiplash. Over the past year in particular, the industry has experienced a whirlwind of regulatory changes making solar tariffs some of the most complex tariffs in all of U.S. importing...more
6/19/2024
/ Anti-Dumping Duty ,
Batteries ,
Cambodia ,
China ,
Countervailing Duties ,
Energy Sector ,
Imports ,
Malaysia ,
Manufacturers ,
Popular ,
Section 201 ,
Solar Energy ,
Solar Panels ,
Supply Chain ,
Tariffs ,
Thailand ,
Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA) ,
Vietnam
Author and futurist Peter Zeihan recently asserted that President Joe Biden has presided over “the most protectionist administration the United States has had in at least a century.” And Donald Trump reportedly plans to...more
4/5/2024
/ Anti-Dumping Duty ,
Countervailing Duties ,
Customs and Border Protection ,
Donald Trump ,
EU ,
Export Controls ,
Exports ,
Free Trade Agreements ,
Imports ,
Investment ,
Joe Biden ,
Supply Chain ,
Tariffs ,
Trade Relations
On May 16, 2023, President Joseph Biden vetoed the Congressional Review Act (CRA) resolution that would have nullified the temporary moratorium on the collection of antidumping and countervailing (AD/CVD) duties on imports of...more
5/19/2023
/ Anti-Dumping Duty ,
Biden Administration ,
Cambodia ,
Countervailing Duties ,
Imports ,
Malaysia ,
Presidential Veto ,
Solar Energy ,
Solar Panels ,
Tariffs ,
Thailand ,
Vietnam
Today, the United States Trade Representative issued a notice informing the importing community about a new Section 301 exclusion process and seeking comments from affected importers. The comment period begins on October 12,...more
If your company is like many, your board of directors may be demanding that you put more effort into environmental, social, and governance issues, which have become known by the now-ubiquitous acronym “ESG.” Those demands...more
10/11/2021
/ Board of Directors ,
Customs ,
Customs and Border Protection ,
Environmental Social & Governance (ESG) ,
Ethical Standards ,
Exports ,
Forced Labor ,
Imports ,
International Trade ,
Sanctions ,
Supply Chain ,
Trade Policy
The Silica Products WRO -
On June 24, the White House announced the first strike against forced labor in the solar equipment manufacturing industry. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) issued a Withhold Release Order (WRO)...more
The United States is taking increasingly aggressive actions to prohibit imports from China that may have been produced by forced labor. According to the U.S. Department of Labor, China has arbitrarily detained more than one...more
On January 13, 2021, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) issued a Withhold Release Order (WRO) on cotton and tomato products produced by entities operating in Xinjiang, China. The order is based on information that...more
1/27/2021
/ China ,
Customs ,
Customs and Border Protection ,
Due Diligence ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Forced Labor ,
Importers ,
Imports ,
Pending Legislation ,
Supply Chain ,
Withhold Release Orders (WROs)
On December 29, 2020, the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) posted a notice granting new Section 301 product exclusions and extending existing exclusions for COVID-19 medical care products. This action is in response to USTR’s...more
1/13/2021
/ China ,
Comment Period ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Exclusions ,
Imports ,
International Harmonization ,
Medical Supplies ,
Section 301 ,
Supply Chain ,
Tariffs ,
Trade Relations ,
US Trade Policies ,
USTR
One point all can likely agree on in these divisive times is that the Trump Administration’s international trade policy has been aggressive. Over the past four years, we have been clinging to our seats on the rollercoaster...more
Unless you’re a customs or logistics professional, you may not have focused on the Incoterms changes announced by the International Chamber of Commerce in early 2020. This post provides a handy reference to the revised...more
Is your company in a high-risk zone? Does it have the following risk characteristics?
? Your company imports more than $10 million of goods.
? You are mid-market: between $50 million and $2 billion in annual turnover.
?...more
As trade with our North American neighbors continues to evolve and grow, we’re taking a closer look at the newly ratified United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) and examining how the new Agreement will impact trade...more
2/21/2020
/ Automotive Industry ,
Canada ,
Cross-Border Transactions ,
Exports ,
Foreign Relations ,
Free Trade Agreements ,
Imports ,
Mexico ,
NAFTA ,
Trade Relations ,
Trump Administration ,
United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) ,
US Trade Policies
On Friday, October 11, 2019, the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) opened the Miscellaneous Tariff Bill (MTB) “duty suspension” process. That process allows companies to petition for suspensions and reductions to the...more
Europe has come up with a nifty plan to help Iran buy and sell stuff outside the reach of U.S. sanctions. The problem is that the plan is a fraud magnet. How do we know? It’s been tried before, and the fraud was epic.
The...more
8/20/2019
/ Cross-Border Transactions ,
Economic Sanctions ,
EU ,
Exports ,
Foreign Policy ,
Foreign Relations ,
Fraud ,
Humanitarian Assistance ,
Imports ,
INSTEX ,
Iran ,
Iran Sanctions ,
Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA)
Many U.S. companies continue to struggle under the burden of President Trump’s tariffs on imports from China. The repercussions of the trade war are likely to worsen in coming weeks. On March 2, 2019 at 12:01 a.m. Eastern...more
2/22/2019
/ China ,
Exclusions ,
Imports ,
Intellectual Property Protection ,
Section 301 ,
Supply Chain ,
Tariffs ,
Trade Act of 1974 ,
Trade Relations ,
Trump Administration ,
Unfair or Deceptive Trade Practices ,
US Trade Policies ,
USTR
This article suggests steps you should take to survive the current trade war. We are now in a trade war regardless of the fact that Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin would rather we call it “a situation of trade disputes.”...more
8/8/2018
/ Anti-Dumping Duty ,
Countervailing Duties ,
Imports ,
International Trade Disputes ,
Section 232 ,
Section 301 ,
Supply Chain ,
Tariff Classifications ,
Tariffs ,
Trade Act of 1974 ,
Trade Expansion Act of 1962 ,
Trade Policy ,
Trade Relations ,
Trump Administration
In what has become his trademark Trumpian manner, the President announced last Friday that new tariffs and trade restrictions against China are on again, at the same moment that his senior Commerce and Treasury Department...more
6/8/2018
/ Acquisitions ,
Arms Embargo ,
CFIUS ,
China ,
Export Administration Regulations (EAR) ,
Export Controls ,
Foreign Investment ,
Imports ,
ITAR ,
National Security ,
Tariffs ,
Trade Relations ,
Trump Administration ,
US Trade Policies
1. All sanctions on Iran that were in place before January 2016 will be re-imposed no later than November, 4 2018.
2. Secondary sanctions that penalize non-U.S. persons doing business with Iran will be reinstated.
3....more
5/14/2018
/ Economic Sanctions ,
Exports ,
Foreign Financial Institutions (FFI) ,
Foreign Policy ,
Foreign Relations ,
General Licenses ,
Goods or Services ,
Imports ,
Iran ,
Iran Sanctions ,
Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) ,
NDAA ,
Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) ,
SDN List ,
Trump Administration
On April 3, 2018, President Trump’s U.S. Trade Representative released a list of 1300 categories of Chinese goods that will be subject to 25% tariffs. That followed a tit-for-tat exchange in which President Trump announced a...more
4/13/2018
/ Agricultural Sector ,
Aluminum Sales ,
Article I ,
Article II ,
Automotive Industry ,
China ,
Countervailing Duties ,
Imports ,
National Security ,
Steel Industry ,
Tariffs ,
Trade Expansion Act of 1962 ,
Trump Administration ,
US Trade Policies ,
WTO
If your company is a U.S. consumer of imported steel or aluminum, the new tariffs announced by President Trump on March 8, 2018 are bad news. The good news is that you can petition the government for exclusions of certain...more
3/15/2018
/ Aluminum Sales ,
Imports ,
Manufacturers ,
NAFTA ,
National Security ,
Steel Industry ,
Suppliers ,
Tariffs ,
Tax Exemptions ,
Tax Rates ,
Trade Expansion Act of 1962 ,
Trade Restrictions ,
Trump Administration ,
U.S. Commerce Department ,
US Trade Policies
President Trump has stated that he would impose tariffs on imports from China ranging from ten to forty-five percent. Can he do it? And will it cause a trade war?
The Effects of Increased Tariffs -
In the 18th...more
3/16/2017
/ China ,
Customs ,
Imports ,
International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) ,
Most-Favored Nations ,
Tariffs ,
Trade Agreements ,
Trade Expansion Act of 1962 ,
Trade Relations ,
Trading with the Enemy Act ,
Trump Administration ,
WTO
For the first time since the era of pagers, dial-up, and Y2K hysteria, U.S. trade remedy cases are experiencing a resurgence. Under U.S. law, U.S. producers of goods may petition the U.S. government to impose extra tariffs on...more
After weeks of negotiations and a Putin-backed delay, the UN Security Council unanimously adopted resolution 2270 on March 2, 2016, imposing new sanctions against North Korea. According to U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry,...more
3/4/2016
/ Arms Embargo ,
Asset Freeze ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Exports ,
Imports ,
North Korea ,
Nuclear Weapons ,
Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) ,
Sanctions ,
SDN List ,
UN Security Council ,
Vessels ,
WMD
One aspect of the dramatic shift in U.S. policy toward Cuba that has not been widely reported is a relaxation of the old rule prohibiting imports of most Cuban goods and services. Under the new rules, if your Cuban supplier...more