2017

President Trump has released his first National Security Strategy (NSS), a statutorily mandated document that sets forth how the president intends to put his national security vision into practice on behalf of the United States. The strategy identifies four vital national interests, or “four pillars”: (1) Protect the American people, the homeland, and the American…

At the introductory session for the 11th Ministerial Conference of the World Trade Organization (WTO), Ambassador Robert Lighthizer acknowledged that the WTO is an important institution but then proceeded in his opening statement to criticize the organization and its focus. He stated that the WTO is “losing its essential focus on negotiation and becoming a…

The Trade Policy Review Body of the World Trade Organization (WTO) has released its annual report, Overview of Developments in the International Trading Environment, that covers the implementation of trade-related measures across the WTO membership in the last 12 months (from mid-October 2016 to mid-October 2017). WTO Director-General Roberto Azevêdo stated that “the Report…

Upon the conclusion of the fifth round of renegotiations of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer issued the following statement:

“While we have made progress on some of our efforts to modernize NAFTA, I remain concerned about the lack of headway. Thus far, we have seen no evidence that…

The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) has released an updated summary of U.S. objectives for the renegotiation of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). The new objectives update the previous objectives published in July (see our July 18, 2017 update), and come after four rounds of negotiations among the United States,…

As previously detailed in our September 26 Trump and Trade Update, the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) unanimously determined that crystalline silicon photovoltaic (CSPV) cells (or solar cells) were being imported into the United States in such quantities that they were causing substantial injury to the U.S. solar equipment industry. On October 31, 2017,…

In support of its preliminary determination in the antidumping duty investigation of imports of aluminum foil from the People’s Republic of China, the Department of Commerce has released a 205-page memorandum finding that China continues to be considered a nonmarket economy (NME) country in trade remedy cases because it “does not operate sufficiently on market…

Section 231 of the Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA), enacted on August 2, 2017, mandates that the president must impose certain sanctions on persons the president determines knowingly engage in a significant transaction with a person that is part of, or operates for or on behalf of, the defense or intelligence sectors of…

The Department of Commerce (Commerce) has announced its affirmative preliminary determination in the antidumping duty (AD) investigation of imports of aluminum foil from the People’s Republic of China (China). While the preliminary antidumping duty rates, ranging from 96 percent to more than 162 percent, will not be finalized by Commerce until late February 2018, Commerce…

After four rounds of negotiations, the United States, Canada and Mexico are beginning to express frustration concerning the discussions and proposals to revise and update the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). In an October 17 joint statement, the parties indicated that they have put forward “substantially all initial text proposals” but that these…