June 2020

The Office of the United States Trade Representative has announced it will begin investigations under Section 301 of the 1974 Trade Act into digital services taxes that have been adopted or are being considered by Austria, Brazil, the Czech Republic, the European Union, India, Indonesia, Italy, Spain, Turkey, and the United Kingdom. According to the…

On July 1, 2020, the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) will replace the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). This trilateral free trade agreement will affect many facets of the North American economy.

Please join us weekly for our four-part virtual roundtable series as we help you navigate the USMCA provisions affecting companies and understand the…

On June 2, 2020, Secretary Wilbur Ross announced that the Department of Commerce will initiate an investigation into whether the quantities or circumstances of imports of vanadium into the United States threaten to impair U.S. national security. This investigation is the result of a petition filed by U.S. producers AMG Vanadium LLC (Cambridge, Ohio) and…

On May 29, 2020, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) released a Federal Register notice seeking public comment on whether extensions for up to 12 months should be granted for particular products that have received exclusions in the China Section 301 process from the 25 percent tariff on imports from China with an…

On May 29, 2020, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) released a Federal Register notice seeking public comment on whether extensions for up to 12 months should be granted for particular products receiving exclusions in the China Section 301 process from the 25 percent tariff on imports from China with an annual trade…

On May 26, 2020, as required under the FY2019 National Defense Authorization Act, the White House released its report, “United States Strategic Approach to the People’s Republic of China,” detailing a government-wide strategy concerning the People’s Republic of China (China or PRC). Recognizing that 40 years of direct engagement with China has not…

Hong Kong currently enjoys special trade status with the United States in comparison to China, as a result of China’s agreement in 1997 to allow Hong Kong continued autonomy in many economic and administrative ways. As recent press articles have indicated, the People’s Republic of China (PRC) has increasingly cracked down on the Hong Kong…

The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR), after seeking comments on whether to extend for up to 12 months exclusions from the Section 301 tariffs granted in June 2019 for certain imports from China (see Trump and Trade Update of March 22, 2020), has approved 16 extensions covering the following Harmonized Tariff Schedule…