The Department of Commerce published its opportunity to request annual review of Antidumping and Countervailing Duty Orders with anniversary months in December.
Please see here for the published Federal Register. Contact Jeffrey Neeley, Nithya Nagarajan, or Stephen Brophy if your company is affected by these reviews.
Immediately before the G-20 Summit Meeting on November 30, 2018 in Buenos Aires, President Trump, Canadian Prime Minister Trudeau, and Mexican President Nieto ceremonially signed the new United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA). Although each leader signed the Agreement, this does not mean that it will go into effect, as the Agreement must now be approved…
Congratulations! You have developed or launched an innovative new product or service, and your business dreams are becoming a reality. It’s all very exciting. One thing you may not have considered much, however, is whether your innovations or brand are susceptible to infringement in the international context. Will competitors try to make a knock-off product or steal your trade secrets? Are foreign companies going to ship infringing articles to the U.S. market? Protecting your intellectual property (IP) is key. Here are some fundamental suggestions to thwart such threats to your growing business.
Late on September 30, 2018, the United States and Canada reached a new trade agreement (the USMCA) that addresses many of the contentious issues that delayed Canada from rejoining the countries’ trilateral trade agreement (NAFTA).
In a joint statement, Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland and U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer said that the new agreement “will give our workers, farmers, ranchers, and business a high-standard trade agreement that will result in freer markets, fairer trade and robust economic growth in our region. It will strengthen the middle class, and create good, well-paying jobs and new opportunities for the nearly half billion people who call North America home.”
On September 27, 2018, Senators Marco Rubio (R) and Bill Nelson (D) introduced legislation that would give producers of seasonal fruits and vegetables standing to seek trade remedy relief. The proposed bill would amend the Tariff Act of 1930 to expand the criteria needed for petitioners to have standing to request the imposition of antidumping or countervailing duties.
The following is a short, to the point, summary of recent developments which impact transportation intermediaries, some of which can be implemented simply without fanfare, others which just bear careful monitoring. The Federal Maritime Commission (“FMC”) recently passed new regulations relating to Negotiated Rate Arrangements (“NRAs”), and NVOCC Service Arrangements (“NSAs”) which require some simple implementation, but then little else. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (“FMCSA”) has amended Hours of Service regulations which provide for strict usage of Electronic Logging Devices (“ELDs”), and a corresponding obligation for those intermediaries who select motor carriers for transport. Last but not least, we will briefly explore the question of where is the transport intermediary industry headed in the evolving e-commerce revolution?
As previously covered here, on April 6, 2018, the U.S. Department of Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (“OFAC”) invoked authority provided under the Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (“CAATSA”) in order to place several Russian oligarchs, political officials and businesses under their control on its Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons List (“SDN List”). These designations generally prohibited U.S. persons from engaging in transactions with the sanctioned individuals and entities, however OFAC also issued several General Licenses simultaneously which were intended to provide limited windows for maintaining or winding down preexisting transactions with those sanctioned individuals or entities. OFAC has now partially extended those authorized wind down periods by issuing the following General Licenses last week on September 21, 2018:
On Monday, September 17, 2018, the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) finalized and released the list of imported products from China (approximately $200 billion) for which additional tariffs are to be collected. According to President Trump, the initial tariffs will take effect on September 24, 2018 at a rate of 10 percent. At the direction of the President, he has instructed the USTR to, “increase the level of trade covered by the additional duties in order to obtain elimination of China’s unfair policies.” Subsequently starting on January 1, 2019 this will increase to 25 percent.
On September 7, 2018, the U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS), announced a series of significant changes to the current procedures for companies seeking product-specific exclusions to the Section 232 tariffs on steel and aluminum imports.
On September 11, 2018, the U.S. Department of Commerce published a notice providing the opportunity to request new Administrative Reviews for the antidumping duty (AD) and countervailing duty (CVD) orders with September anniversary dates.
