December 2019

Playing the role of Scrooge, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR), after seeking comments on whether to extend for another year certain product exclusions it granted in December 2018 (see Trump and Trade Update of October 29, 2019), has determined that it will only grant six extensions covering the following Harmonized Tariff…

Pursuant to the December 13, 2019 “Phase One” trade agreement with China (see Trump and Trade Update of December 13, 2019), the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) issued a Federal Register notice today, formally announcing that the Section 301 tariff of 15 percent on certain products from China (List 4B)…

The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) has announced additional Section 301 tariff exclusions for certain imported Chinese products appearing on List 3. These products have been subject to Section 301 tariffs since September 24, 2018, when President Donald Trump announced additional import duties on Chinese goods with an annual trade value of approximately…

After reaching agreement with congressional Democrats on the United States-Mexico-Canada Trade Agreement (USMCA) (see Trump and Trade Update of December 10, 2019), the Trump administration has forwarded to the Senate Finance Committee the necessary legislative text to implement the agreement. The House of Representatives’ Committee on Ways & Means will take up consideration of…

President Donald Trump has confirmed via Twitter that the United States and China have agreed to a “Phase One Deal.” In this agreement, China will reportedly purchase $200 billion of U.S. products and services over the next two years, including an apparent agreement to purchase $40-50 billion of agricultural goods. In addition, China has agreed…

More than a year after government officials from the United States, Mexico and Canada signed a new trade agreement (see Trump and Trade Update of November 30, 2018), and after numerous rounds of negotiations between congressional Democrats and the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR), it was announced today that the United States-Mexico-Canada…

The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) has prepared a Federal Register notice seeking public comment on potential enforcement of U.S. retaliatory rights in the long-running World Trade Organization (WTO) dispute between the United States and the European Union (EU) over EU subsidies for large civil aircraft manufacturers. This action stems from an October…

In the continuing, long-running trade dispute between the United States and the European Union (EU) over aircraft subsidies, the World Trade Organization (WTO) on December 2, 2019, again ruled that the EU, despite earlier decisions instructing the EU to remove or alter its aircraft subsidies, has continued to provide support for the Airbus A350 and…

The U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) issued its Section 301 investigation report this week on France’s digital services tax (DST), finding that the tax discriminates against U.S. companies, is inconsistent with prevailing principles of international tax policy, and is unusually burdensome for affected U.S. companies. The report notes that the French DST is inconsistent with prevailing…

On November 27, 2019, the Department of Commerce published in the Federal Register proposed regulations for its review and potential blocking of transactions involving the information and communications technology and services supply chain (ICTS Supply Chain). The notice follows President Donald Trump’s Executive Order of May 15, 2019, “Securing the Information and Communications Technology…