A World Trade Organization (WTO) dispute settlement panel ruling, Russia – Measures Concerning Traffic in Transit, issued last week on a member’s use of the WTO’s so-called “national security exception” under Article XXI of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) may have a significant impact on the Trump administration’s application of…

The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) has released its annual National Trade Estimate Report on Foreign Trade Barriers that addresses the status of foreign trade and investment barriers to U.S. exports around the world. This report is the U.S. government’s major annual report on the barriers to trade, investment and services that U.S.…

On March 27, 2019, Cooper Natural Resources, Inc., Elementis Global LLC and Searles Valley Minerals, Inc. filed a petition on behalf of the domestic industry with the U.S. Department of Commerce (Commerce) and the U.S. International Trade Commission (Commission) seeking antidumping duties on imports of sodium sulfate anhydrous (SSA) from Canada. According to the petition…

On March 25, 2019, the U.S. Court of International Trade (CIT) denied a challenge to the constitutionality of Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962 in a lawsuit brought by the American Institute of International Steel and other steel importers. In a 2-1 decision, the three-judge panel in American Institute for International…

The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative issued another list of product exclusions from Section 301 tariffs on imported goods from China, granting full or partial exemptions in response to 87 separate exclusion requests, according to a pre-publication copy of the notice. The exclusions cover a wide range of products, including, inter alia, certain…

On March 12, 2019, Robert Lighthizer, U.S. Trade Representative (USTR), testified before the Senate Finance Committee regarding the World Trade Organization (WTO) and President Donald Trump’s desire for a more effective international trading system. In his prepared remarks, Ambassador Lighthizer stated that the United States remains active at all levels of the WTO but…

On March 6, 2019, during a meeting of the Foreign Trade Commission of the Mexican Senate, Luz Maria de la Mora-Sanchez, Foreign Trade Undersecretary of Mexico’s Ministry of Economy, announced that the Mexican government is planning to include additional items on its list of U.S. products subject to retaliatory measures, which were originally imposed on…

On March 6, 2019, the American Kitchen Cabinet Alliance (Alliance) filed antidumping (AD) and countervailing duty (CVD) petitions with the U.S. Department of Commerce (Commerce) and the U.S. International Trade Commission (Commission) against imports of wooden cabinets and vanities from China. The Alliance consists of U.S. producers of wooden cabinets and vanities: ACProducts, Inc., American…

President Donald Trump has officially notified Congress of his intent to terminate the designation of Turkey and India as beneficiary developing countries under the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) program. Termination means that products from these two countries will no longer receive duty-free access to the U.S. market. Official removal of these countries’ designation under…

On September 27, 2018, Titanium Metals Corporation (TIMET) filed a Section 232 petition alleging that the quantity or circumstances of U.S. titanium sponge imports threaten to impair national security. On March 4, 2019, Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross announced that the petition had been accepted and an investigation initiated. Ross sent a letter to Acting…