On October 19, 2020, the Department of Justice (DOJ) filed a motion before the U.S. Court of International Trade (CIT) in the matter of HMTX Industries LLC, et al. v. United States of America, et al. asking that the CIT adopt case management procedures to administer not only this case but also the approximately 3,600
Section 301 Investigations
USTR Initiates Two Section 301 Investigations Involving Vietnamese Wood Products Using Illegal Timber and Currency Valuation
On October 2, 2020, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) announced that it was initiating two Section 301 investigations regarding certain trade practices by the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (Vietnam) related to its import and use of timber illegally harvested or traded and the country’s policies that may contribute to the undervaluation of…
Federal Court Partially Blocks Department of Commerce’s TikTok Ban
On October 2, 2020, the U.S. Department of Commerce published a notice in the Federal Register informing the public that on September 27, 2020, the U.S. District Court of the District of Columbia granted a nationwide preliminary injunction against implementation of President Donald Trump’s August 6, 2020 Executive Order against TikTok declaring it a national…
USTR Approves Limited Number of Section 301 Product Exclusion Extensions for List 1 and List 2 Products
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) has issued two Federal Register notices announcing the extension of a limited number of product exclusions from the Section 301 tariffs for imports from China appearing on List 1 (products from China with an annual trade value of $34 billion) and List 2 (products from China with…
President Trump Issues Executive Order to Address Reliance on Imports for Critical Minerals
On September 30, President Donald Trump issued an executive order (EO) declaring a national emergency to address “the threat posed by our Nation’s undue reliance on critical minerals, in processed or unprocessed form, from foreign adversaries.” In a message to Congress, the president stated that a “strong America cannot be dependent on imports from foreign…
Further TikTok Developments: Commerce Identifies and Prohibits Certain Transactions Effective September 27
On September 24, 2020, the U.S. Department of Commerce published a Federal Register notice listing prohibited transactions with ByteDance Ltd. and its subsidiaries including TikTok, Inc., pursuant to President Trump’s August 6, 2020 Executive Order declaring TikTok a national security threat and directing Commerce to define the scope of prohibited “transactions” with TikTok by September…
Walmart-Oracle Deal and Federal Court Injunction Delay Commerce’s Ban on Transactions with TikTok and WeChat
On September 18, 2020, the U.S. Department of Commerce announced prohibitions on transactions relating to the mobile applications WeChat and TikTok in order to “safeguard the national security of the United States” that were to become effective on September 20 and November 12, 2020. This announcement followed President Trump’s August 6, 2020 executive orders declaring…
BIS Adds 47 Entities to the Entity List Effective September 22
In a Federal Register notice, the Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) has announced that effective September 22, 2020, it is adding 47 entities to its Entity List after determining these companies and persons to be acting contrary to the national security or foreign policy interests of the United States. The entities…
USTR Approves Limited Number of Section 301 Product Exclusion Extensions for List 1 and 2 Products
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) has issued two Federal Register notices announcing the extension of numerous product exclusions from the Section 301 tariffs for imports from China appearing on List 1 (products from China with an annual trade value of $34 billion) and List 2 (products from China with an annual trade…
WTO Panel Rules that U.S. Section 301 Tariffs Against China Are Illegal
On September 15, 2020, a dispute settlement panel of the World Trade Organization (WTO) ruled that President Donald Trump’s tariffs against China violate the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) because they are prima facie inconsistent with Articles I:1 (Most-favored Nation Treatment) and certain of the GATT’s schedules and concessions, and the United States…
