China-based smartphone apps, TikTok and WeChat, have each received a reprieve from the respective bans, which were originally ordered by President Trump on August 6, 2020 against both parties and were scheduled to take effect on September 21, 2020. Please see our previous post covering the Executive Orders. Pursuant to the Executive Orders banning the
Court of International Trade Receives its First Complaint Against Section 301 China 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
USTR Announces New Section 301 Product Exclusions for List 3
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (“USTR”) issued two (2) new product exclusions pertaining to the Section 301 List 3 tariffs. The current tariff is 25%. The new exclusions include 2 specific product descriptions that together cover 2 separate exclusion requests. According to the USTR, the product exclusions apply retroactively from September 24, 2018
U.S. Adds 38 New Huawei Affiliates to Entity List While Again Expanding Foreign-Produced Direct Product Rule
The U.S. Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security (“BIS”) has announced that it is further restricting access by Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd. and its designated non-U.S. affiliates (“Huawei”) to U.S.-produced technology and software. As we have previously discussed, BIS first added Huawei to its Entity List on May 15, 2019 and has continued to impose additional export restrictions on Huawei under the U.S. Export Administration Regulations (“EAR”). Most recently, BIS published a Federal Register notice to implement the following enhancements. Although BIS published this Federal Register notice on August 20, 2020, the following rule changes took effect retroactively as of August 17, 2020:
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Updated CBP Marking Guidance on Goods from Hong Kong; Effective Date Pushed Back to November 9, 2020
On August 10, 2020, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) issued a notice announcing that goods produced in Hong Kong and exported to the U.S. must now be marked as a product of China (e.g., Made in China), which we covered in a previous post here. The marking changes were originally set
USTR Requests Comments on China’s WTO Compliance
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) requests comments to assist in the preparation of its annual report to Congress on China’s compliance with commitments made in connection to its accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 2001. The deadline for the submission of comments is September 16, 2020. The interagency Trade Policy
Update: Goods from Hong Kong and China Tariffs
On August 10, 2020 Customs issued a notice announcing that goods produced in Hong Kong and exported to the U.S. must now be marked as a product of China (e.g., Made in China). To see our previous post on the issue, click here. The marking changes are set to take effect on September 25,
CBP Issues Marking Guidance for Goods Produced in Hong Kong
On August 10, 2020, U.S. Customs & Border Protection (CBP) issued a notice that goods produced in Hong Kong will need to be marked as a product of China starting on September 25, 2020. The marking changes are the result of the July 14, 2020 Executive Order on Hong Kong Normalization that ended Hong Kong’s special trade status.
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U.S. Moves to Ban TikTok and WeChat Apps Amid U.S.-China Tensions
On August 6, 2020, the White House issued two (2) Executive Orders (“EO”) banning the popular China-based social media app TikTok and the messaging and electronic payments app WeChat. Both orders are scheduled to take effect in 45 days (approximately September 21, 2020). While a U.S. ban on TikTok, owned by Beijing-based ByteDance Ltd., had been anticipated, especially after India banned the app earlier this year, the EO on Tencent Holding Ltd.’s (“Tencent”) WeChat was not anticipated and has significant potential business ramifications.
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USTR Grants Extensions to Products Subject to Section 301 List 3
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (“USTR”) announced today that it was extending the duty exemptions for only 266 of the 1,035 products on List 3 of the Section 301 tariffs that were scheduled to expire on August 7, 2020. The 266 individual product line extensions will now expire on December 31, 2020. The