On July 10, 2020, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced that it will be restarting on-site prioritized domestic inspections, including food facilities, during the week of July 20 after pausing such inspections...more
On July 1, 2020, the United States–Mexico–Canada Agreement (USMCA) entered into force, replacing the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). The change to USMCA was accompanied by the publication on June 30, 2020, of the...more
In response to an ongoing trade dispute between the United States and the European Union (EU), the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) is considering adding additional products to the existing list of EU imported...more
On June 24, 2020, following recent activity from China regarding concerns over the safety of imported food, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a joint statement on...more
The U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) has initiated a Section 301 investigation into Digital Services Taxes (DSTs) proposed or enacted by the European Union (consisting of 27 member states), Austria, Brazil, the Czech...more
On May 27, 2020, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced that he has certified to Congress that the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region no longer enjoys a high degree of autonomy from China. According to the legislative...more
Since March 2020, the Chinese government has allowed Chinese companies to file exclusion applications for products currently subject to China’s retaliatory tariffs on U.S. imports. In the official announcement, there is...more
On April 18, 2020, President Trump signed an Executive Order providing additional economic support for U.S. businesses during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Executive Order gave the Treasury Department the authority to implement...more
In the April 21, 2020 Federal Register, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) will publish additional exemptions and clarifications to its general halt to exports of personal protective equipment (PPE) from the...more
Leading Senate Finance Committee Republicans laid out a list of trade actions on March 25 that they believe the Trump administration should consider to help to ease the economic downturn tied to the coronavirus pandemic....more
On February 10, 2020, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC) issued a decision clarifying the interpretation of the Trade Agreements Act (TAA) and the Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR) with respect to...more
The Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) “express lane” for food importers, the Voluntary Qualified Importer Program (VQIP), is now accepting applications for the period between October 1, 2020 and September 30, 2021,...more
The United States has reached an agreement with China that will reduce the tariff rate to 7.5 percent for approximately $120 billion of Chinese goods (a reference to merchandise on List 4A) currently subject to Section 301...more
President Trump, on December 2, 2019, announced via a Twitter post that the tariff exemptions granted to Argentina and Brazil from tariffs of 25 percent on steel imports and 10 percent on aluminum imports would end “effective...more
12/3/2019
/ Agricultural Sector ,
Aluminum Sales ,
Argentina ,
Brazil ,
Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) ,
Customs and Border Protection ,
Exports ,
Imports ,
Section 232 ,
Steel Industry ,
Supply Chain ,
Tariffs ,
Trade Relations ,
Trump Administration ,
U.S. Commerce Department ,
US Trade Policies
The Office of the United States Trade Representative (“USTR”) has announced that it will accept public comments on the proposed renewal of certain product exclusions granted for the $34 billion in Chinese imports covered...more
10/30/2019
/ Anti-Dumping Duty ,
China ,
Comment Period ,
Countervailing Duties ,
Exclusions ,
Imports ,
Public Comment ,
Section 301 ,
Tariffs ,
Trade Act of 1974 ,
Trade Relations ,
Trade Wars ,
US Trade Policies ,
USTR
On October 21, 2019, the Office of the United States Trade Representative (“USTR”) announced the commencement of the process for submitting tariff exclusion requests for imports from China that became subject to 15 percent...more
10/23/2019
/ China ,
Exclusions ,
Imports ,
Section 301 ,
Supply Chain ,
Tariffs ,
Trade Act of 1974 ,
Trade Relations ,
Trump Administration ,
US Trade Policies ,
USTR
The World Trade Organization (WTO) has approved U.S. duties on $7.5 billion in products from the European Union (EU) after ruling that the EU had unfairly subsidized the production of large civil aircraft, such as those...more
10/4/2019
/ Aircraft Equipment ,
Aviation Industry ,
EU ,
Foreign-Made Goods ,
Imports ,
Member State ,
Retaliatory Tariffs ,
Subsidies ,
Supply Chain ,
Tariffs ,
Trade Relations ,
US Trade Policies ,
USTR ,
WTO
On August 27, the US International Trade Commission (USITC) published amended rules and procedures for the preparation and filing of Miscellaneous Tariff Bill (MTB) petitions and public comments. The new rules take effect on...more
On August 20, 2019, the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) published a Federal Register (FR) notice providing the List 4 products that are of Chinese origin and subject to increased tariffs. See 84 FR...more
On August 13, 2019, the Office of the United States Trade Representative (“USTR”) announced a finalized fourth list (List 4) of products from China that will be subject to additional 10% tariffs under Section 301.
These...more
On August 1, 2019, President Trump announced in a tweet that the United States will impose a duty of 10 percent on $300 billion of Chinese imports beginning on September 1, 2019.
As of the issuance of this alert, the...more
The U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) has initiated a Section 301 investigation regarding the Digital Services Tax (DST) proposed by the French government, which would impose a three percent additional tax on certain companies...more
7/19/2019
/ Digital Service Providers ,
Digital Services Tax ,
Discrimination ,
France ,
Imports ,
Intellectual Property Protection ,
International Tax Issues ,
Public Comment ,
Request For Information ,
Retaliatory Tariffs ,
Retroactive Taxes ,
Section 301 ,
USTR ,
WTO
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (“USTR”) has launched a web portal for exclusion requests pertaining to the third tranche of products (“List 3”) imported from China worth $200 billion annually. This portal...more
President Trump issued an official statement on May 30 announcing the Administration’s intention to impose an additional 5% tariff on all imports from Mexico, effective on June 10, unless the Mexican government takes more...more
6/3/2019
/ Cross-Border Transactions ,
Foreign Relations ,
Immigration Enforcement ,
Immigration Reform ,
Imports ,
International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) ,
Mexico ,
Tariffs ,
Trade Relations ,
Trump Administration ,
Undocumented Immigrants ,
United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) ,
US Trade Policies
The Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) on May 21, 2019, published a Federal Register notice that it seeks comments on new forms for parties to submit exclusion requests, in connection with the $200...more