On May 13, 2020, the United States Trade Representative (“USTR”) issued new product exclusions pertaining to the 7.5% Section 301 List 4A Tariffs. The new list of exclusions includes three 10-digit HTS subheadings and five specially prepared product descriptions that together cover 27 separate exclusion requests. The full list of excluded products is available here
The U.S. Department of Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (“OFAC”) recently announced the removal of General License 13E (“GL 13E”), authorizing certain activities involving Nynas AB, a Swedish manufacturer of specialty oils owned in part by PDVSA, Venezuela’s state-owned oil company. The notice issued by OFAC states that Nynas AB “has undertaken a corporate
On May 6, 2020, U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross announced that the Commerce will initiate an investigation to examine whether imports of mobile cranes were threatening to impair the national security. Commerce will conduct an examination into both the quantities or circumstances of mobile crane imports.
Section 232 investigations are conducted under Section 232
On May 6, 2020, the U.S. Department of Commerce published a notice initiating new Administrative Reviews for antidumping duty (AD) and countervailing duty (CVD) orders with March anniversary dates. Listed below are the countries and products named in the notice:
AD
On Monday May 4, 2020, the Department of Commerce issued a news release announcing the start of a Section 232 investigation on imports of “Laminations and Wound Cores for Incorporation Into Transformers, Electrical Transformers, and Transformer Regulators.” This investigation is effectively an examination of whether or not to expand the current Section 232 tariffs on
On May 1, 2020 U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) published an update to their previous guidance on Section 232 product exclusions granted by the Department of Commerce (DOC) and Section 301 product exclusions granted by the United States Trade Representative (USTR). The CBP message stated that these exclusions may be retroactive for unliquidated entries
Sorting through domestic preference requirements applicable to government contracts is no simple task. Different agencies like the DOD, FTA, FAA, FHWA, have their own rules applicable to certain programs. Exceptions from those rules can differ when a small business is making the offer. And the rules are subject to change. With the Court of Appeals
On May 4, 2020, the United States Trade Representative (“USTR”) issued new product exclusions pertaining to the 25% Section 301 List 3 Tariffs. The new list of exclusions include two 10-digit HTSUS subheadings and 144 specially prepared product descriptions covering 185 separate exclusion requests total. The products affected include mostly industrial components, such as vacuum
Update: On April 30, 2020, the Department of Justice (DOJ) withdrew its “statement of interest” in the ongoing antidumping and countervailing duty investigations on mattresses from various countries. In their filing, the DOJ stated that it, “hereby withdraws that Statement of Interest as not yet ripe.” Currently the U.S. International Trade Commission (“ITC”) is still
On April 30, 2020, the International Trade Commission voted that dumped and illegally subsidized imports of ceramic tile from China are injuring U.S. industry, the ITC said in a press release. The affirmative injury vote means that Commerce will issue AD/CVD orders on Chinese ceramic tile, and will begin conducting annual administrative reviews, if