The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) has issued findings in three more Section 301 investigations of Digital Service Taxes (DSTs) adopted by Austria, Spain and the United Kingdom. In the reports, the USTR found that each of the DSTs “discriminates against U.S. companies, is inconsistent with prevailing principles of international taxation, and burden
Tariffs/Trade Policy
Webinar Invitation: Impact of the 2020 Election on U.S. Trade Policy
Impact of the 2020 Election on U.S. Trade Policy: Trump Transformation to Biden Restoration?
Addressing a key 2016 campaign promise, President Trump transformed decades of U.S. trade policy by weaponizing tariffs, ramping up enforcement and focusing on bilateral trade in goods. Will President-elect Biden continue any of these policies or attempt to restore the multilateral…
USTR Releases Findings in Digital Services Taxes Investigations Involving India, Italy and Turkey
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) has issued findings in its Section 301 investigations of Digital Service Taxes (DSTs) adopted by India, Italy and Turkey. In each report, the USTR found that the DSTs: (i) create “a significant new tax burden for U.S. companies, [and] taxes an unusually broad array of digital services”;…
USTR Delays Imposition of Additional Tariffs on Certain French Products in Response to France’s Digital Services Tax
While the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) was set to impose additional import duties of 25 percent starting January 6, 2021, these retaliatory tariffs have now been further suspended according to a press release. These additional tariffs on certain products from France are in response to that country’s continued collection of a…
USTR Announces Additional Tariffs in U.S.-EU WTO Aircraft Dispute
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) announced that it will add on January 12, 2021 “certain products of certain EU member States” to the list of products subject to additional duties in the ongoing World Trade Organization (WTO) dispute with the European Union (EU) over subsidies for large civil aircraft. In October 2019,…
U.S. International Trade Commission Releases Report Regarding Supply Chain Challenges for COVID-19 Related Goods
On December 22, 2020, the U.S. International Trade Commission (USITC) released a report providing information on the U.S. industries producing COVID-19 related goods and the market, trade and supply chain challenges and constraints affecting the availability of such goods. The report follows an earlier report that identified such goods treating and responding to the COVID-19…
USTR Extends Section 301 Tariff Exclusions for Certain Chinese Medical Products Due to COVID-19 Response
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) has announced that it is extending until March 31, 2021, Section 301 tariff exclusions for imports of certain Chinese medical care products needed to address the COVID-19 pandemic. Effective January 1, 2021, Section 301 tariff exclusions have been extended for a variety of Chinese medical care products,…
Commerce Modifies Section 232 Steel and Aluminum Exclusion Request Process
In a Federal Register interim rule to be published on December 14, 2020, the Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) announced that it was revising certain aspects of the process for requesting exclusions from the additional duties and quantitative limitations implemented on imports of aluminum and steel under Section 232 of the…
EU Implements Retaliatory Tariffs in WTO Large Civil Aircraft Dispute
On November 9, 2020, the EU, pursuant to World Trade Organization (WTO) authorization, applied approximately $4 billion worth of retaliatory tariffs on U.S. goods in the latest chapter of the long-running dispute between the EU and the United States over government subsidies provided to both Boeing and Airbus. This retaliation follows an October 2020 WTO…
United States and Mexico Reach Agreement on Exports of Grain-Oriented Electrical Steel; Mexico to Be Excluded from any Related Section 232 Actions
On November 5, 2020, the United States and Mexico announced that they had concluded consultations pursuant to their Joint Statement of May 17, 2019 to address the transshipment of grain-oriented electrical steel (GOES) from outside North America into the United States through GOES-containing downstream products. The May 2019 Statement committed Mexico (and Canada) to implement…
