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Nithya Nagarajan

Nithya’s extensive background in U.S. trade issues spans 25 years and includes various roles in a number of federal government agencies, including the Department of Commerce Department of Justice, and the U.S. Court of International Trade. She assists clients with administrative and regulatory actions before the Department of Commerce, International Trade Commission and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and defends clients in appeals before the Court of International Trade, Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, NAFTA panels and the World Trade Organization. In addition to her body of U.S. experience, Nithya is also well-versed in international trade issues in China and India.

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On March 25, 2019, the Court of International Trade issued its decision in the American Institute for International Steel’s appeal on the institution of Section 232 tariffs on steel products.  The CIT found that the Section 232 tariffs were constitutional and thus this decision results in the continuation of these tariffs for the foreseeable future.

The President signed on Friday, February 15, 2019, the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2019, an appropriations bill to keep the government fully open. In the Joint Explanatory Statement (JES) from the House Appropriations Committee that accompanied the bill, Congress directs the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) to create an exclusion process for the third tranche of Section 301 tariffs on China “no later than 30 days after the enactment of this Act, following the same procedures as those in rounds 1 and 2….”  This language does not tie a round 3 exclusion process to the level of the tariff (10% or 25%).  Significantly, though, this language in the JES was not included as part of the bill signed by the President and is therefore not legally binding.  Nevertheless, the JES expresses Congress’ intent and indicates that Congress expects USTR to begin an exclusion process covering goods on List 3 no later than March 17, 2019.

The U.S. is expected to make an announcement on whether India will retain eligibility under the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) program within the next two weeks according to unidentified sources cited by Reuters. The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) is currently reviewing the eligibility of Indian products for duty-free entry into the U.S. under GSP as a response to petitions from the dairy and medical device industries. On November 1, 2018, USTR suspended GSP tariff reductions on 90 imports from India worth $75 billion including textiles, chemicals, and musical instruments.

With the government shutdown entering its fourth week and with no end in sight, a number of federal agencies are feeling the pressure. The Department of Commerce and the U.S. International Trade Commission have been effectively shuttered for the past four weeks and recently the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative released a short statement indicating that they had begun furloughing nonessential personnel. A number of other agencies and departments have also had their work affected or completely suspended. Outlined below is a brief analysis the current shutdown is having on those federal agencies which are critical to imports, exports, and international trade.