On October 19, 2020, the United States and Brazil agreed to an updated protocol for the 2011 Agreement on Trade and Economic Cooperation (ATEC) with three new annexes: Customs Administration and Trade Facilitation, Good Regulatory Practices, and Anticorruption. U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer said that the protocol “uses the existing ATEC to establish common standards
Trade Remedy/Enforcement
WTO Arbitrator Ruling on Airbus-Boeing Dispute Allows EU to Impose $4 Billion in Tariffs Annually on U.S. Products
On October 13, 2020, a World Trade Organization (WTO) arbitrator ruled that the European Union (EU) may take countermeasures/implement retaliatory tariffs against the United States for illegal subsidies to Boeing. This ruling allows the EU to request authorization from the WTO’s Dispute Settlement Body (DSB) to take countermeasures against the United States at a level…
OFAC Sanctions Additional Syrian Officials and Entities for Continued Corruption and Human Rights Abuses
On September 30, 2020, the Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctioned three Syrian individuals and 13 entities, placing them on the Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons (SDN) List. These persons and entities are associated with the Fourth Division of the Syrian Arab Army, the Syrian General Intelligence Directorate and…
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…
WTO Panel Rules that U.S. Section 301 Tariffs Against China Are Illegal
On September 15, 2020, a dispute settlement panel of the World Trade Organization (WTO) ruled that President Donald Trump’s tariffs against China violate the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) because they are prima facie inconsistent with Articles I:1 (Most-favored Nation Treatment) and certain of the GATT’s schedules and concessions, and the United States…
U.S. Importer Sues U.S. Trade Representative for “Unlawful Escalation” of Section 301 Tariffs Against China
On September 10, 2020, HMTX Industries LLC and two of its subsidiaries (“complainants”) filed a complaint at the U.S. Court of International Trade (“CIT”) alleging an unlawful escalation of the ongoing trade war with China through the imposition of a third round of tariffs on imports covered under List/Tranche 3. Arguing that the Trade Act…
“Trump and Trade” Is Now “SmarTrade”
Our International Trade practice group has been blogging about a wide range of trade-related news and activities since November 2016, and in June 2018 we officially launched the “Trump and Trade” blog. However, our purview has always been broader than the executive branch; we also provide timely updates on legislation, trade remedy litigation, customs matters,…
TikTok Files Suit to Prevent U.S. Ban of Its Mobile Application
On August 24, 2020, TikTok Inc. and its Chinese parent, ByteDance, Ltd., filed suit in the Central District of California against President Donald J. Trump, Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross and the U.S. Department of Commerce, in an effort to prevent the government from banning its video-sharing mobile application pursuant to the Executive Order issued…
United States and the European Union Agree to Certain Tariff Reductions
On August 21, 2020, the United States and the European Union (EU) agreed to tariff reductions on several products unrelated to ongoing trade disputes involving Section 232 national security tariffs on aluminum and steel products and retaliatory tariffs under the WTO dispute involving large commercial aircraft. In a Joint Statement issued by the Office of…
Commerce Adds Further Huawei Affiliates to Entity List and Tightens Huawei-Related Direct Product Rule
On August 17, 2020, the Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) issued a Federal Register notice and Final Rule taking several actions directly impacting Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. (Huawei) and its non-U.S. affiliates. Importantly, after issuing and extending a temporary general license since May 2019, BIS removed that license and replaced it…
