2021

The Office of the United States Trade Representative (“USTR”) announced in a notice that 81 COVID specific product exclusions would be extended for an additional 6 months, with all COVID exclusions receiving an additional 16-day transition period. The exclusions on the 81 products was set to expire on November 14, 2021, but will now be pushed back until May 31, 2022, allowing these medical – care products to remain free from additional duties upon importation. The announcement comes after USTR requested public comments on August 27, 2021 on whether the exclusions should be further extended.

On October 31, 2021, the Secretary of Commerce and United States Trade Representative released a statement confirming that the United States and the European Union (EU) have come to an agreement (Agreement) that will modify the current section 232 tariffs on steel and aluminum imports.

On November 2, 2021, the Ad Hoc Coalition of American SAP Producers (“Petitioner”), filed a petition for the imposition of antidumping duties on imports of superabsorbent polymers from Korea.

SCOPE OF THE INVESTIGATION

The merchandise covered by this order is superabsorbent polymers (“SAP”), insoluble in water, which result from a polymerization of primarily acrylic acid…

In Husch Blackwell’s October 2021 Trade Law Newsletter, you’ll learn about the following updates in international trade and supply chain law:

  • The U.S. and EU struck a deal on steel and aluminum tariffs
  • The U.S. Department of Commerce published a new set of AD/CVD regulations governing a multitude of administrative proceedings
  • The Port of

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On Saturday, the United States and the European Union reached an agreement on section 232 duties being imposed because of global steel and aluminum excess capacity concerns.  The trading partners have agreed that the U.S. will adjust tariffs on steel and aluminum to allow elimination of certain U.S. section 232 duties, and the EU will suspend its retaliatory tariffs.

On November 1, 2021, the Department of Commerce (“Commerce”) announced in the Federal Register the opportunity to request an annual administrative review for products that are currently subject to antidumping and countervailing duties. The products and countries that have been listed in the Federal Register notice are the following:

The Office of the United States Trade Representative (“USTR”) announced that the Department of the Treasury has reached an agreement with Austria, France, Italy, Spain, and the United Kingdom regarding the treatment of Digital Services Taxes (“DSTs”). The Department of Treasury reached the agreement in conjunction with the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (“OECD”) global agreement. In coordination with the Department of Treasury, USTR plans to work together with these governments to ensure implementation of the agreement and rollback of existing DSTs.

As previously reported, in February 2021, President Biden issued Executive Order 14017 (“EO 14017”), which instructed various government agencies to review the current supply chain risks for critical sectors and subsectors of the Information and Communications Technology (“ICT”) industrial base and provide the executive branch with reports of identified risks. In order to comply with EO 14017, the Bureau of Industry and Security (“BIS”) recently announced that it will host a virtual forum soliciting recommendations from the public on how to strengthen the resiliency of the ICT industrial base. The ICT industrial base consists of: