Section 301 Investigations

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On March 25, 2025, the Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) added over 80 companies to its Entity List through two Final Rules.  These are the first listings by BIS under President Donald Trump’s second term and the listings heavily focus on China.  According to BIS, these entities “have been determined by…

On March 24, 2025, President Donald Trump signed an Executive Order (EO) declaring that any country purchasing oil from Venezuela, “whether directly from Venezuela or indirectly through third parties,” will pay a 25% tariff on their exports to the United States.  The EO tasks the Secretary of Commerce with determining whether a country buys Venezuelan…

On March 3, 2025, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) delivered President Donald Trump’s 2025 Trade Policy Agenda, 2024 Annual Report, and World Trade Organization at Thirty report to Congress. This year’s trade agenda seeks to strengthen the middle class and national defense and to address trade deficits by focusing on a “Production…

  • The USTR issued a determination and report in January 2025 finding that China’s acts, policies, and practices of in the maritime, logistics, and shipbuilding sectors burden or restrict U.S. commerce and are actionable under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974.
  • The USTR is proposing actions that could include significant port service
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On March 3, 2025, the White House issued an Executive Order to further address the synthetic opioid supply chain in China by increasing the current tariffs on all products of China (and Hong Kong) from 10% to 20%. China immediately responded by announcing that it will implement additional tariffs of up to 15% on key…

On February 25, 2025, President Donald Trump signed an Executive Order (EO) initiating an investigation under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962 to determine the effects on national security of imports of copper in all forms, including but not limited to: (i) raw mined copper; (ii) copper concentrates; (iii) refined copper; (iv) copper alloys; (v) scrap copper…

On February 21, 2025, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) announced its proposed actions in response to an earlier determination finding that China was targeting the maritime, logistics, and shipbuilding sectors for dominance. This determination followed an investigation under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974. This determination authorizes actions in response. USTR has proposed…

On February 21, 2025, President Trump issued the America First Investment Policy Memorandum (“Memorandum”). The Memorandum aims to promote foreign direct investment (FDI) from “allies and partners” while restricting inbound investment from and outbound investment to “foreign adversaries,” such as China (including Hong Kong and Macau), Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Russia, and the Nicolás Maduro…

UPDATE: On February 14, the Federal Register released the formal Presidential Proclamations on the steel and aluminum tariffs that include the annexes for each Proclamation that detail the list of in-scope steel or aluminum articles and derivatives that will be subject to the 25% ad valorem tariffs. The links in this post have been updated…

UPDATE: On February 7, President Donald Trump issued an executive order (EO) addressing the additional duties placed on imports into the United States of products of China. The article below stated that use of duty-free de minimis treatment on imports for shipments under $800 was being removed for shipments from China. The president has since…