The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) has issued findings in three more Section 301 investigations of Digital Service Taxes (DSTs) adopted by Austria, Spain and the United Kingdom. In the reports, the USTR found that each of the DSTs “discriminates against U.S. companies, is inconsistent with prevailing principles of international taxation, and burden
State Department Re-Designates Cuba as State Sponsor of Terrorism
On January 11, 2020, Secretary of State Michael Pompeo announced that the United States was re-designating Cuba as a State Sponsor of Terrorism for “repeatedly providing support for acts of international terrorism in granting safe harbor to terrorists.” In a press release, the State Department noted that with this action, “we will once again hold
Department of Commerce Adjusts Levels of Civil Monetary Penalties Under Various Laws and Regulations
On January 11, 2021, the Department of Commerce published in the Federal Register adjustments for each civil monetary penalty under which its bureaus and agency operate by law. The Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act of 1990 authorizes such adjustments “to ensure that [civil monetary penalties] continue to maintain their deterrent value and that [such
BIS Extends Temporary Export Controls on Geospatial Artificial Intelligence Software
The Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) issued an interim final rule (“Rule”) extending the temporary 0Y521 series export controls on software specially designed to automate the analysis of geospatial imagery, issued in January 2020. The Rule, which applies to geospatial imagery software specially designed for training a “Deep Convolutional Neural Network” to
USTR Releases Findings in Digital Services Taxes Investigations Involving India, Italy and Turkey
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) has issued findings in its Section 301 investigations of Digital Service Taxes (DSTs) adopted by India, Italy and Turkey. In each report, the USTR found that the DSTs: (i) create “a significant new tax burden for U.S. companies, [and] taxes an unusually broad array of digital services”;
OFAC and State Department Sanction Entities Operating in Iran’s Steel Sector
The Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) and the Department of State have announced further sanctions toward Iran by designating and placing on the Specially Designated Nationals (SDN) List a China-based supplier of graphite electrodes, 12 Iranian producers of steel and other metals products, three foreign-based sales agents of a major
USTR Delays Imposition of Additional Tariffs on Certain French Products in Response to France’s Digital Services Tax
While the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) was set to impose additional import duties of 25 percent starting January 6, 2021, these retaliatory tariffs have now been further suspended according to a press release. These additional tariffs on certain products from France are in response to that country’s continued collection of a
President Trump Issues Executive Order Banning Transactions Involving Eight Chinese Software Applications
On January 5, 2021, President Donald Trump issued an executive order declaring that beginning on February 19, 2021, “any transaction by any person, or with respect to any property, subject to the jurisdiction of the United States, with persons that develop or control the following Chinese connected software applications, or with their subsidiaries, … :
UPDATE: FEMA Extends PPE Export Restrictions and Adds Vaccine-Required Needles and Syringes
On December 31, 2020, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Federal Emergency Management Agency (“FEMA”) published a temporary final rule (“Rule”) that extends and modifies the most recent rule issued on August 10, 2020 to continue to restrict the exports of the four categories of personal protective equipment (PPE) and respirators as well as a
USTR Announces Additional Tariffs in U.S.-EU WTO Aircraft Dispute
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) announced that it will add on January 12, 2021 “certain products of certain EU member States” to the list of products subject to additional duties in the ongoing World Trade Organization (WTO) dispute with the European Union (EU) over subsidies for large civil aircraft. In October 2019,