In an early confidential draft of a proposed rule that BIS has shared with a technical advisory committee of industry representatives, trade press is reporting that the Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) may seek to restrict export transactions with 89 Chinese and 28 Russian companies that are owned or controlled by
Section 301 Investigations
Government Measures Taken in Response to COVID-19: Country-by-Country Guide 2.0
Since April 2020, we have collaborated with our foreign law firm partners to provide a chart summarizing the economic, labor and employment, health and safety, and export and import measures taken by governments around the world in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. After a short break, we are back with version 2.0 of our chart…
Commerce Further Revises License Review Policy for Certain Exports to China, Russia and Venezuela
On October 29, 2020, the Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) issued a Federal Register notice announcing further amendments to the Export Administration Regulations (EAR) to revise the license review policy for items controlled for national security reasons destined to the People’s Republic of China (PRC), Venezuela or the Russian Federation (Russia).…
CBP Issues Forced Labor Finding of Imported Stevia Product from China
On October 20, 2020, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) issued a finding determining that stevia extracts and derivatives, mined, produced, or manufactured in the People’s Republic of China (China) by the Inner Mongolia Hengzheng Group Baoanzhao Agriculture, Industry, and Trade Co., Ltd. (Baoanzhao) with the use of convict, forced or indentured labor, are being,…
In Section 301 Tariff Refund Litigation, the DOJ Files Motion for Case Management Procedures
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…
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…
