Timely news and analysis of the latest developments in international trade law
On February 20, 2025, the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) announced that it is seeking comments from the public to identify and address unfair and non-reciprocal foreign trade practices. This initiative is part of the broader America First Trade Policy Presidential Memorandum and the Reciprocal Trade and Tariffs Presidential Memorandum.
The…
In a February 13, 2025 Memorandum, President Donald Trump instructed the Secretary of Commerce and the U.S. Trade Representative, with input from other agencies, to initiate “all necessary actions to investigate the harm to the United States from any non-reciprocal trade arrangements adopted by any trading partners.” Upon completion of this investigation, the president…
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…
On January 13, 2025, the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) announced controls on advanced computing integrated circuits (ICs) and certain closed artificial intelligence (AI) model weights. “To strengthen U.S. security and economic strength,” the Biden-Harris administration released an Interim Final Rule (IFR) titled “Framework for Artificial Intelligence Diffusion.” The rule…
On January 15, 2025, the Department of Commerce’s inflation-adjusted civil monetary penalties for 2025 went into effect. The adjustments, which the Department of Commerce (“Commerce”) published in the Federal Register on December 30, 2024, update the penalty rates for violations of laws and regulations enforced by the agency and its bureaus.
While over 40 civil…
On January 17, 2025, Customs and Border Protection (CBP) announced a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) intended to tighten the de minimis duty exemption for certain low-value shipments entering the United States. Under the proposed rule, merchandise subject to specific trade and national security actions would no longer qualify for the de minimis exemption and…
In mid-December 2024, the Department of Commerce’s International Trade Administration (ITA) issued a Final Rule amending its trade remedy regulations for the administration of antidumping duty (AD) and countervailing duty (CVD) laws. These regulatory amendments are effective on January 15, 2025.
In many instances, the ITA has codified existing procedures and methodologies. The amendments, however…
On December 2, 2024, the Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) issued two new rulemakings in an ongoing effort to “further impair [China’s] capability to produce advanced-node semiconductors that can be used in the next generation of advanced weapon systems and in artificial intelligence (AI) and advanced computing, which have significant military…
