Trade Policy

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…

The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (“USTR”) released the final implementing regulations of the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (“USMCA”) on June 3, 2020, an important step for when the USMCA goes into effect on July 1, 2020. The implementing regulations cover the interpretation, application, and administration of the rules of origin, textile and apparel…

The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (“USTR”) announced on June 2, 2020 that it is initiating Section 301 investigations on Digital Services Taxes (“DSTs”) adopted or under consideration by Austria, Brazil, Czech Republic, the European Union (“EU”), India, Indonesia, Italy, Spain, Turkey, and the United Kingdom (“U.K.”). The Section 301 DST investigations could lead…

White HouseThe Trump Administration issued its Executive Order on Regulatory Relief to Support Economic Recovery (the “EO”) on May 19, 2020 (Executive Order). The EO seeks to remedy the economic impact of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic by removing certain administrative barriers and providing flexibility in the implementation and enforcement of other administrative provisions and…