On August 2, 2019, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) issued its first batch of Section 301 product exclusions for imported Chinese products appearing on List 3. These products, which have an annual trade value of approximately $200 billion, have been subject to Section 301 tariffs since September 24, 2018. The USTR determined…

It has not been officially announced yet, but President Donald Trump tweeted today (see below) that products on the yet-to-be-finalized Tranche/List 4 of imports from China valued at $300 billion will be assessed a 10 percent tariff starting September 1. While noting that this week’s trade negotiations between the U.S. and Chinese governments were constructive…

On July 30, 2019, JSW Steel (USA), Inc. (JSW) filed a complaint against the United States and, specifically, the Department of Commerce (Department) for denying its product exclusion requests for certain steel imports that otherwise are subject to a 25 percent tariff under President Donald Trump’s March 2018 proclamation implementing such tariffs under Section 232…

The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative released today its first batch of product exclusions for List 2 of the Section 301 tariffs on imports from China valued at $16 billion. List 2 products were assessed a 25 percent tariff as of August 23, 2018. This batch of exclusions covers 69 specially prepared product descriptions,…

According to recently released U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) data, the agency has assessed, as a result of tariffs implemented through U.S. government actions under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962 and Sections 201 and 301 of the Trade Act of 1974, approximately $30.9 billion in import duties as of July…

On July 15, 2019, President Donald Trump signed an executive order, Maximizing Use of American-Made Goods, Products, and Materials, to further promote the principles underlying the Buy American Act of 1933. In remarks to the press, the president stated that “Early in my presidency, I ordered the federal government to live by two very…

President Donald Trump has issued a presidential memorandum concluding the Section 232 Investigation into the effect of uranium imports on U.S. national security and declining at this time to take any further action on uranium imports. Instead, the president is establishing a United States Nuclear Fuel Working Group (Working Group) to develop recommendations for reviving…

In May 2019, the Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) published the Framework for OFAC Compliance Commitments (“Framework”), which is intended to help organizations subject to U.S. jurisdiction, as well as foreign entities doing business in or with the United States, U.S. persons, or using U.S.-origin goods or services, to develop…

The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) has issued a press release announcing the initiation of an investigation under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974 into the French government’s planned Digital Services Tax (DST). On March 6, 2019, France released a proposal for a 3 percent levy on revenues that certain companies…

The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) has published in the Federal Register its latest round of product exclusions applicable to List 1 of the China Section 301 tariffs. List 1 imposed additional duties as of July 6, 2018, on goods imported from China and valued at $34 billion. This latest round of exclusions…