International Trade & Supply Chain

Effective January 1, 2021 duty reductions under the Miscellaneous Tariff Bill (MTB) expired.  Additionally, Congress has not indicated when it might consider a new MTB bill.  As a result of the MTB expiring, over 1,600 products will immediately face increased tariffs and over 2,500 products will be prevented from receiving anticipated duty reductions even though

As previously reported, since October 18, 2019 the U.S. has imposed additional duties on various European origin goods (including aircraft, certain textiles and wearing apparel, hardware, cheeses, and other agricultural goods) due the ongoing Large Civil Aircraft (LCA) dispute with the European Union (EU).

On December 30, 2020, the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) announced

On December 24, 2020, the United Kingdom (“UK”) and European Union (“EU”) agreed on a Trade and Cooperation Agreement to facilitate free trade between the UK and EU following the UK’s official exit from the EU on January 2, 2020. The UK Parliament approved the agreement and Prime Minister Boris Johnson signed it into law

On December 29, 2020, the U.S. Department of Commerce (“Commerce”) announced its final determinations in the antidumping (“AD”) and countervailing duty (“CVD”) investigations of imports of wood mouldings and millwork products from Brazil (AD only) and China (AD and CVD). Commerce made a negative final determination in the Brazil investigation, while its determinations for the China investigations were affirmative. See the fact sheet for a summary the final cash deposit rates and margins.

The Office of the United States Trade Representative (“USTR”) announced that it is extending certain product-specific exclusions related to the treatment of COVID-19 from the Section 301 tariffs on imports from China until March 31, 2021.  On March 25, 2020, the USTR announced that it was seeking comments on the possible exemption of medical goods

U.S. Customs and Border Protection (“CBP”) issued a notice announcing the lapse of the Generalized System of Preferences (“GSP”) special tariff program, effective December 31, 2020, unless renewed by an act of Congress.  The GSP is the oldest U.S. trade preference program and was established by the Trade Act of 1974.  GSP effectively promotes the

United States Trade Representative (“USTR”) announced the very first enforcement action under the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (“USMCA”) to address Canada’s tariff-rate quotas (“TRQs”) on imported dairy products, which the USTR alleges are in violation of various USMCA Articles to the detriment of U.S. dairy producers. USTR’s announcement follows complaints from U.S. dairy farmers and Members of Congress received earlier this year over Canada’s use of TRQs.  USTR stated in its announcement that it was “disappointed that Canada’s policies have made this first ever enforcement action under the USMCA necessary to ensure compliance with the agreement.”

On December 8, 2020, the U.S. Department of Commerce published a notice initiating new administrative reviews for antidumping duty (AD) and countervailing duty (CVD) orders with October anniversary dates. Listed below are the countries and products named in the notice:

  1. Australia
    I. Hot-Rolled Steel Flat Products (A-602-809)
  2. Brazil
    I. Hot-Rolled Steel Flat Products (A-351-845/C-351-846)
  3. India

The U.S. International Trade Commission (“USITC”) announced on December 2, 2020 that it would begin monitoring imports of bell peppers and strawberries pursuant to Section 332 of the Tariff Act of 1930, following a request from the United States Trade Representative (“USTR”) Robert E. Lighthizer. The USITC will monitor imports of the subject products for

On December 2, 2020, 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. In addition to administrative reviews, Commerce has included an opportunity to request a new suspension agreement proceeding pertaining to sugar from Mexico.

The products and countries