Canada

On Tuesday, January 23, 2018, President Trump signed the Presidential Proclamation to Facilitate Adjustment to Competition from Imports of Large Residential Washers, thereby announcing the President’s decision regarding the investigation of large residential washers (LRWs) under Section 201 of the Trade Act of 1974 (the LRW Safeguard Investigation). A copy of the Proclamation can be found here.

On September 22, 2017, the U.S. International Trade Commission (“ITC”) voted in the affirmative and found that U.S. producers are being seriously injured or are threatened with serious injury by imports of silicon photovoltaic cells and modules. This case was brought under section 201 of the Trade Act of 1974. Section 201 cases have two main parts: (1) the case is filed at the ITC which determines if there is such serious injury by imports, and if there is, then recommends a remedy, and (2) if there is a finding of such serious injury, the case goes to the President of the United States for final review and decision on the remedy. The President may modify or agree with the recommendation of the ITC on remedy.

On Wednesday, August 16, Canada, Mexico, and the U.S. began the opening round of renegotiations to NAFTA in Washington, D.C. The opening round lasted through Sunday and was largely closed-door; however, the U.S. put forth its objectives for the negotiations last month. The three top negotiators, U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland, and Mexican Economy Secretary Ildefonso Guajardo, began the day with opening statements.

On August 9, 2017, North Pacific Paper Company filed a petition for the imposition of antidumping duties and countervailing duties on imports of Certain Uncoated Groundwood Paper from Canada.

SCOPE OF THE INVESTIGATION

The merchandise covered by this petition includes certain paper that has not been coated on either side and with 50 percent or more of the cellulose fiber content consisting of groundwood pulp, or deinked pulp made from recycled ONP (old newspapers), weighing not more than 90 grams per square meter. Groundwood pulp includes all forms of pulp produced from a mechanical process, such as thermomechanical process (“TMP”), chemithermo mechanical process (“CTMP”), or bleached chemithermo mechanical process (“BCTMP”) or any other process other than the bleached Kraft process. The scope includes paper shipped in any form, including both rolls and sheets.

On April 27, 2017, Petitioner The Boeing Company filed a petition for the imposition of antidumping and countervailing duties on imports of 100-to 150-Seat Large Civil Aircraft from Canada.

SCOPE OF THE INVESTIGATION

The merchandise covered by this petition is aircraft that have a standard 100- to 150-seat two-class seating capacity and a minimum 2,900 nautical mile range, as these terms are defined below.

On March 31, 2017, President Trump signed two Executive Orders (EO) aimed at the enforcement of the collection of antidumping and countervailing duties for unfair trade practices and at the evaluation of significant trade deficits with U.S. trading partners. These EOs are a clear indication that trade, as promised throughout the campaign, will continue to be a top priority of the Trump presidency.

In response to Russia’s continuing actions in Ukraine, the United States and other nations have implemented increased economic sanctions that significantly broaden the scope of the sanctions previously in place. In addition to the U.S. actions, Canada, the European Union and Japan have imposed similar sanctions against Russia, including asset freezes and individual designations.