March 2020

On March 12, 2020, President Donald Trump signed into law H.R. 4998, the “Secure and Trusted Communications Networks  Act of 2019,” which prohibits the use of certain federal funds and subsidies to purchase communications equipment or services posing national security risks. The Act, passed by both the House of Representatives and the Senate by…

Recently, the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) issued its annual reports to Congress assessing how the People’s Republic of China (China) and the Russian Federation (Russia) have been complying with their World Trade Organization (WTO) accession agreements, including both their multilateral commitments and bilateral commitments with the United States.  China became a member of the WTO…

In a rare move, President Donald Trump has issued an Executive Order that the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) direct the foreign parties involved in the acquisition of StayNTouch, Inc., a U.S. company, to divest their interests in the company. President Trump found credible evidence that Beijing Shiji Information Technology Co.,…

The U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) has issued a Federal Register notice exempting from List 4 (imported Chinese products with an annual trade value of $300 billion) of the Section 301 tariffs targeting China eight entire 10-digit Harmonized Tariff System (HTS) subheadings that cover 59 separate exclusion requests. While there is no reference in the notice,…

On March 5, 2020, Secretary Wilbur Ross testified before a Senate Appropriations subcommittee to discuss President Donald Trump’s fiscal year (FY) 2021 budget request for the Department of Commerce. In laying out the funding requests for each agency within the department, Ross requested $137.7 million for the Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) in order…

The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) has released President Donald Trump’s 2020 Trade Policy Agenda and 2019 Annual Report, detailing how the Trump administration’s trade actions have resulted in “a ‘blue-collar boom’ with higher wages, more jobs and a stronger economy for all.”  The report details several of President Trump’s trade accomplishments…

The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) has issued a Federal Register notice seeking public comment on the possible extension of Section 301 tariff exclusions for certain products that it granted on May 6, 2019, in the ongoing trade dispute with China. These exclusions were in the third batch of exclusions granted as part…