International Trade & Supply Chain

On April 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:

AD

  • Argentina: Biodiesel
  • India: Carbon and

On April 1, 2021, the U.S. Department of Commerce published a notice initiating new administrative reviews for antidumping duty (AD) and countervailing duty (CVD) orders with February anniversary dates. Listed below are the countries and products named in the notice:

  1. India
    1. Certain Frozen Warmwater Shrimp (A-533-840)
    2. Stainless Steel Bar (A-533-810)
    3. Certain Cold-Drawn Mechanical Tubing of

U.S. Customs & Border Protection (CBP) issued a forced labor finding on March 29, 2021 against Top Glove Corporation Bhd. (Top Glove), a Malaysian manufacturer of disposable gloves, a product which has been in high demand during the pandemic.  As a result, port directors may seize certain disposable gloves of Top Glove’s at U.S. ports

The United States Trade Representative (“USTR”) announced the continuation of certain Section 301 investigations related to digital services taxes (“DSTs”) and the termination of certain others.  USTR originally initiated Section 301 DSTs investigations covering several countries on June 2, 2020 in response to those countries’ implementation or consideration of DSTs, which are taxes on revenues

According to media reports, a massive 400-meter container ship operated by Evergreen Marine Corp. in Taiwan, the Ever Given, became stuck in the Suez Canal after apparently running aground due to high winds from a sandstorm. As a result, potentially hundreds of ships cannot pass on either side of the Suez Canal

The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (“USTR”) published a notice of product exclusion extensions on March 10, 2021 to extend exclusions from additional Section 301 tariffs for certain medical-care products from China. USTR has extended these product exclusions from March 31, 2021 to September 30, 2021. The product exclusions were previously extended and modified

On March 18, 2021, Katherine Tai was confirmed as the U.S. Trade Representative.  Tai will be the first woman of color in this role.

Tai’s nomination hearing focused on a worker and labor-centric trade policy as well as a return to multilateralism, which we believe will include more active participation in the World Trade Organization. 

Solar panels are once again in the news due to several recent developments.  Due to various trade remedy actions taken over the course of the past few years, solar panels are 45% more expensive in the United States than in Europe and Australia and 50% more expensive in the United States than the global average.

In a joint statement released by the Office of the United States Trade Representative (“USTR”), the U.S. and European Union (“EU”) have agreed to temporarily suspend the additional tariffs from the Large Civil Aircraft Dispute. Goods imported from EU countries, including dairy products and liquors, will temporarily not be subject to the additional 25 percent