On March 5, 2021, the United States and the European Union (EU) issued a joint statement announcing a suspension of World Trade Organization (WTO)-authorized retaliatory tariffs in the trade dispute involving government subsidies for large civilian aircraft. The statement notes the suspension “will cover all tariffs both on aircraft as well as on non-aircraft products,
Tariffs/Trade Policy
U.S. and UK Temporarily Suspend WTO Retaliatory Tariffs on Large Civilian Aircraft
On March 4, 2021, the United States and the United Kingdom released a joint statement announcing a suspension of World Trade Organization (WTO)-authorized retaliatory tariffs in the WTO’s longest-running trade dispute involving government subsidies for large civilian aircraft. The statement notes that the UK ceased applying retaliatory tariffs on January 1, 2021, and that the…
CIT Questions Use of First Sale Rule for NME Countries Commonly Used to Mitigate China Tariffs
The U.S. Court of International Trade (CIT) has called into question the “First Sale Rule” tariff mitigation strategy deployed by an increasing number of companies to reduce Section 301 tariffs on China-sourced goods. In Meyer Corp. v. U.S., No. 13-00154, Slip Op. 21-26 (March 1, 2021), the CIT questioned whether the First Sale Rule…
CIT Issues Procedural Orders in China Section 301 Tariff Refund Litigation
The three-judge panel established by the Court of International Trade (CIT) to manage the China Section 301 tariff refund litigation has issued two procedural orders in the recently-established master case (Court No. 21-cv-00052-3JP) (see Update of February 8, 2021), setting a path forward for this massive litigation.
In a February 10, 2021 order…
CIT Proceeds with China Section 301 Tariff Refund Litigation with Appointment of Three-Judge Panel
In a February 5, 2021 order, after months of delay, the U.S. Court of International Trade (CIT) is proceeding in the China Section 301 tariff refund litigation with the appointment of a three-judge panel consisting of Judge Mark A. Barnett, Judge Claire R. Kelly and Judge Jennifer Choe-Groves. This is the CIT’s first action…
CIT Rejects Broad Challenge to Section 232 Tariffs
On February 4, 2021, a three-judge panel at the U.S. Court of International Trade (CIT) denied a broad challenge by Universal Steel Products and several other importers (“plaintiffs”) to Section 232 tariffs that former President Donald Trump placed on steel imports. The plaintiffs had challenged both the report by the U.S. Department of Commerce (“Commerce”)…
CIT Dismisses All but One Claim in Section 232 Steel Tariff Dispute
On January 27, 2021, the U.S. Court of International Trade (CIT) issued an opinion in which it dismissed all but one claim challenging on various grounds a proclamation by former President Donald Trump (Proclamation 9980) that imposed 25% tariffs on, inter alia, various imported products made of steel pursuant to Section 232 of the Trade…
USTR Continues to Criticize China and Russia for Poor WTO Compliance
On January 15, 2020, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) released its annual reports submitted to Congress that assess China’s and Russia’s implementation of their World Trade Organization (WTO) commitments. In keeping with past annual USTR reports during the administration of President Donald Trump, the reports note that these countries’ records of compliance…
Commerce Adds and Removes Entities on Entity List and the MEU List
On January 14, 2021, the Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) issued a Federal Register notice announcing the addition and removal of certain Chinese and Russian entities from the Entity List and the Military End-User (MEU) List.
Notably, BIS added China National Offshore Oil Corporation Ltd. to the Entity List for its…
President Trump Extends Import Safeguards for Large Residential Washers
On January 14, 2021, President Donald Trump issued a Presidential Proclamation announcing that the United States was extending safeguard measures, in the form of tariff-rate quotas (TRQs), on imports of large residential washers and various washer parts for an additional two years. Pursuant to Section 201 of the Trade Act of 1974, President Trump implemented…
