The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (“USTR”) announced on September 30, 2020 that it was extending the duty exemptions for only 9 of the 96 products on List 1 and only 28 out of the 113 products on List 2 of the Section 301 tariffs that were scheduled to expire on October 2, 2020.
On October 1, 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 opportunities to request a new suspension agreement proceeding pertaining to lemon juice from Argentina and uranium from Russia.
On September 1, 2020 the Office of the United States Trade Representative (“USTR”), Department of Agriculture, and Department of Commerce issued a 32-page report outlining the Trump Administration’s plan to address increased foreign imports of perishable fruits and vegetables. One of the actions included in the inter-agency plan was for USTR to request that the
On September 30, 2020, the Wind Tower Trade Coalition (“Petitioner”), filed a petition for the imposition of antidumping duties on utility scale wind towers from India, Malaysia, and Spain. Additionally, the petition alleges that imports of utility scale wind towers from India and Malaysia are unfairly subsidized and requests the imposition of countervailing duties.
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On September 29, 2020, the Aluminum Association Trade Enforcement Working Group (“Petitioners”), filed a petition for the imposition of antidumping duties on certain aluminum foil from Armenia, Brazil, Oman, Russia, and Turkey. Additionally, the petition alleges that imports of certain aluminum foil from Oman and Turkey are unfairly subsidized and requests the imposition of countervailing
On September 14, 2020, the U.S. Department of Commerce announced its preliminary countervailing duty determination finding that imports of prestressed concrete steel wire strand from Turkey were unfairly subsidized by the Turkish government. Commerce preliminarily found that exporters from Turkey were subject to duties as high as 135.06%. Commerce preliminarily determined that Turkish producer Celik
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) announced the rescission of Section 232 tariffs on Canadian aluminum, retroactive to September 1, 2020. The 10% tariff on non-alloyed, unwrought aluminum under subheading 7601.10 from Canada was announced on August 6, 2020 and went into effect on August 16, 2020. Following the USTR’s announcement of
The World Trade Organization (WTO) dispute settlement body ruled that the tariffs imposed by the U.S. on imports from China are inconsistent with the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), and recommended that the U.S. “bring its measures into conformity” with its obligations under the GATT. Beginning in 2018, at the direction of President Trump, the U.S. imposed tariffs on $400 billion worth of imports from China over 4 different lists or tranches. The U.S. and China negotiated a “phase one” trade deal earlier this year, however, most of the tariffs were still left in place.
The WTO panel concluded that the U.S. failed to demonstrate that the tariff measures are justified under Article XX(a) of the GATT 1994. As a result, the panel found the U.S. tariff measures to be inconsistent with Articles I:1, II:1(a) and II:1(b) of GATT 1994. In other words, the WTO found that the U.S. tariffs on China were discriminatory and excessive, and the U.S. failed to present justification for an exemption that could have legally allowed for the tariffs.
On September 10, 2020, HMTX Industries LLC, along with Halstead New England Corporation, and Metroflor Corporation (importers of vinyl tile) filed a complaint (Ct. No. 20-00177) at the Court of International Trade (CIT) challenging both the substantive and procedural processes followed by the United States Trade Representative (USTR) when instituting Section 301 Tariffs on imports
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (“CBP”) is preparing a regulatory change that would eliminate the $800 de minimis exemption for imports subject to Section 301 tariffs, according to a proposed rule submitted by CBP to the Office of Management and Budget (“OMB”) on September 2, 2020. Reviews of the proposed rule by OMB and an interagency review are the final steps before the publication of a final rule in the Federal Register.