The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has finalized a rule intending to reduce the production and consumption of hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) in the United States by enforcing a cap and phasedown program under the American Innovation and Manufacturing (AIM) Act. According to the EPA, the final rule will phase down U.S. production and consumption of
Don’t Forget the Chassis in the Chase for the Cure.
A new level of frustration has arisen from the ocean shipper ranks during this “post-COVID” period. Shipments from Asia to the U.S. are experiencing extreme difficulties in getting their cargo delivered, mainly due to the acute shortage of chassis to effect delivery of their containers on the U.S. side. The painful example of this is the BNSF current experience with Lot W. Aside from the impact to the importer in not being able to access its cargo and experiencing serious damage to its business, it is also likely to face serious demurrage charges from the ocean carrier. This is on top of having just experienced a quadrupling (or more) of the base FAK per container rates, and the ocean carrier choices to leave agricultural commodities sitting at West Coast U.S. ports, favoring the shipment of empty containers opting to position equipment for the lucrative Asia to U.S. trade.
The United States and European Union (“EU”) announced a “cooperative framework” to address and potentially resolve their long-running dispute over large civil aircraft subsidies, also commonly known as the Boeing–Airbus or Large Civil Aircraft disputes. Originally initiated in 2004 when the U.S. filed a case at the World Trade Organization (“WTO”)
President Biden issued Executive Order (“EO”) 14017 titled “America’s Supply Chains” on February 24, 2021, ordering 100-day and 1-year reviews of certain critical supply chains. On June 8, 2021, a final report was published, officially marking the end of the 100-day reviews under EO 14017. The reviews assessed risks posed to the following critical supply
On April 21, 2021, the American Honey Producers Association and Sioux Honey Association (“Petitioners”), filed a petition for the imposition of antidumping duties on imports of raw honey from Argentina, Brazil, India, Ukraine, and the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.
The Department of Defense (“DoD”) requested industry comments by April 28, 2021 to assist with the DoD’s forthcoming report identifying risks and policy recommendations regarding the supply chain for strategic and critical materials. The Apr. 13, 2021 Federal Register notice notes “the need for resilient, diverse, and secure supply chains to ensure U.S. economic prosperity
On March 29th, the Office of the United States Trade Representative (“USTR”) announced the suspension of all U.S. engagements with Burma (Myanmar) under the 2013 Trade and Investment Framework Agreement (“TIFA”), effective immediately. Pursuant to this announcement, the United States will be suspending all government-to-government meetings following the military coup that occurred in February and the related escalation in violence by Burma’s military against its people.
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: