2020

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…

In a ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (Federal Circuit),  a three-judge panel has upheld a lower court’s ruling that Congress’s delegation of authority over trade does not violate the Constitution. This ruling is the result of a complaint filed in June 2018 by several steel-related trade groups alleging that…

On February 27, 2020, President Donald Trump issued a Presidential Memorandum declining to impose Section 232 tariffs on imports of titanium sponge. While concurring with the findings of the Department of Commerce’s Section 232 report that imports of titanium sponge threaten to impair national security, the president declined to take action in the form of…

There are growing concerns that the recent outbreak of a novel coronavirus, SARS-CoV­-2, which causes “coronavirus disease 2019” (abbreviated as COVID-19), will have a serious negative impact on the global economy. U.S. businesses who depend on Chinese suppliers may soon be facing product shortages and supply chain disruptions. This client update (i) addresses whether U.S.…