Tariffs/Trade Policy

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On May 4, 2020, former Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross announced the initiation of a Section 232 investigation into whether certain transformer components used in electrical power grids are imported in quantities that threaten national security. See SmarTrade Update of May 11, 2020. The investigation focused on transformers and transformer components (i.e.,…

On June 2, 2020, former Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross announced the initiation of a Section 232 investigation into whether the quantities or circumstances of imports of vanadium into the United States threaten to impair U.S. national security. This investigation was the result of a petition filed by U.S. producers AMG Vanadium LLC (Cambridge, Ohio)…

On August 2, 2021, the U.S. Court of International Trade (CIT) held a status conference and issued its second order revising certain deadlines originally established in its July 6 decision and order granting the plaintiff group’s motion for a preliminary injunction in the ongoing Section 301 tariff refund litigation involving imports of certain Chinese products.…

Nearly a year and a half after former President Donald Trump declined to impose Section 232 tariffs on imports of titanium sponge (see Update of February 28, 2020), the Department of Commerce has released its full public report on the investigation, which found that these imports indeed threatened to impair the national security…

On July 20, 2021,  the U.S. Court of International Trade (CIT) issued an order revising certain deadlines established in its July 6 decision and order granting the plaintiff group’s motion for a preliminary injunction in the ongoing Section 301 tariff refund litigation involving imports of certain Chinese products. The preliminary injunction suspended liquidation of unliquidated…

On July 14, 2021, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) published in the Federal Register (86 Fed. Reg. 37022-35) its final rule for “Made in USA” and other “unqualified U.S.-origin claims” on product labels. The final rule is effective on August 13, 2021.

The final rule codifies a longstanding FTC policy and practice that a product…

On July 13, 2021, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (Federal Circuit) issued a majority 2-1 opinion reversing the ruling of the U.S. Court of International Trade (CIT) that former President Donald J. Trump violated the provisions of Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962 (Section 232) by increasing tariffs…

On July 6, 2021, the U.S. Court of International Trade (CIT) issued an opinion granting the Plaintiffs’ motion for a preliminary injunction in the ongoing China Section 301 tariff litigation. The preliminary injunction suspends liquidation of unliquidated entries subject to List 3 and List 4A Section 301 duties, which, the Plaintiffs allege, are not authorized…

On June 15, 2021, the United States and European Union (EU) issued a joint Summit Statement trumpeting a “renewed transatlantic partnership” at the conclusion of President Joseph Biden’s first trip abroad as president.  The statement establishes a Joint Transatlantic Agenda “for the post-pandemic era, and … regular dialogue to take stock of progress.”  The leaders…

On June 15, 2021, the United States and the European Union (EU) announced a “cooperative framework” to resolve their decades-long World Trade Organization (WTO) dispute involving alleged subsidies in the large civil aircraft industry supporting both Boeing and Airbus. U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai stated, “Our goal was clear – to forge a new, cooperative…