International Trade & Supply Chain

Some commercial truck traffic could be moving again at one border bridge as late this afternoon. On April 14, 2022, Texas Governor Greg Abbott announced an agreement with Nuevo León Governor Samuel Alejandro García Sepúlveda for heightened inspections on Mexico’s side of the border at the Columbia bridge and the lifting of increased security measures

In Husch Blackwell’s March 2022 Trade Law Update you’ll learn about the following updates in international trade and supply chain law:

  • An update on U.S. Department of Commerce decisions
  • U.S. International Trade Commission – Section 701/731 proceedings
  • Customs and Border Protection case summaries
  • Summary of decisions from the Court of International Trade
  • March export controls

On March 30, 2022, the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security (“BIS”) modified and expanded a list of aircraft that have flown into Russia in apparent violation of the Export Administration Regulations (“EAR”).  We more thoroughly discussed the implications of this list – which was first published on March 18, 2022 – in our blog post here.  The updated list adds 73 additional Boeing-manufactured aircraft and modifies tail and/or serial number information for 13 aircraft previously listed on March 18, 2022.  The full list of owners/operators include Aeroflot, AirBridge Cargo, Aviastar-TU, Alrosa, Atran, Azur Air, Nordstar, Nordwind, Pegas Fly, Pobeda, Rossiya, Royal Flight, S7 Airlines, and Utair (FC Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich’s private Gulfstream jet is also on the list).

On March 23, 2022 the U.S. Trade Representative (“USTR”) reinstated 352 Section 301 China tariff exclusions that had expired December 31, 2020.  The list of reinstated exclusions can be found here: Reinstatement of Certain Exclusions Previously Extended | United States Trade Representative (ustr.gov) The 352 reinstated tariff exclusions are retroactive to October 12, 2021 and extend forward through December 31, 2022.

On March 11, 2022, President Biden issued an Executive Order (“EO”) that prohibited the importation into the United States of fish, seafood, and preparations thereof; alcoholic beverages; non-industrial diamonds; and any other products of Russian Federation origin as may be determined by the Secretary of the Treasury, in consultation with the Secretary of State and the Secretary of Commerce.  Because the Executive Order lists no effective date, implementation will be immediate.  No exceptions are listed for such products that are in transit and the EO specifically states that the prohibitions apply “notwithstanding any contract entered into or license or permit granted prior to the date of this order.”

The U.S. Department of Commerce (“Commerce”) announced on Friday that it was set to resume trade missions starting as early as March 2022.  Trade missions are government- led programs where members of the trade can meet directly with foreign industries and officials to explore potential business opportunities.  The COVID-19 pandemic brought these missions to a sudden halt in March 2020 and no trade missions have occurred in the past 24 month.  The International Trade Administration (“ITA”) is now preparing to resume in-person trade missions, where possible.

On February 4, 2022, the U.S. Department of Commerce published a notice initiating new administrative reviews for antidumping duty (AD) and countervailing duty (CVD) orders with December anniversary dates. Listed below are the countries and products named in the notice:

  1. India
    1. Forged Steel Fittings (A–533–891)
  2. Oman
    1. Circular Welded Carbon-Quality Steel Pipe (A–523–812)
  3. Republic of Korea

Effective January 13, 2022, the U.S. Census Bureau’s (“Census”) Automated Export System (“AES”) began issuing a response code 66Q notifying Electronic Export Information (“EEI”) filers whenever they enter an export control classification number (“ECCN”) and destination combination that is prohibited under the Export Administration Regulations’ (“EAR”) destination-based controls.  For now, such mismatches in filings will