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.
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
President Biden issued an “Executive Order on America’s Supply Chains” (the “EO”) on February 24, 2021, ordering 100-day and 1-year reviews of certain critical supply chains. The initial 100-day review aims to assess risks posed to the following critical supply chains:
On December 11, 2020, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), through the U.S. Department of Justice, filed a civil action in the U.S. Court of International Trade (“CIT”) in New York, United States v. Winland International, Inc. et al. The government alleges false statement to avoid paying the correct antidumping (“AD”) rates and instead declaring inappropriate combination rates apply, as well as undervaluation of the goods, certain types of tires. Fourteen individuals, as well as the company are named in the civil case at the CIT. The press release of the U.S. Department of Justice states that the alleged violations total at least $6.5 million in lost import duty deposits.
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
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
On July 14, 2020, President Trump signed into law an Executive Order that ends Hong Kong’s differential treatment compared to the People’s Republic of China (“PRC” or “China”). The President’s action follows the Chinese government’s decision in late May to impose new national security legislation on Hong Kong that outlaws any act of “secession,” “terrorism,”
The U.S.-Mexico-Canada Free Trade Agreement (USMCA) will displace NAFTA and become effective July 1, 2020. Though similar to NAFTA in many ways, key changes in the USMCA include provisions for digital trade, implementation of new local labor standards in the automotive sector, and the adjustment of the rules of origin for a wide variety of