In a Notice of Modification of Action published in the Federal Register on March 5, 2019, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) made official its earlier announcement (see Trump and Trade Update of March 1, 2019) that the Section 301 retaliatory tariff for the third tranche/list of products imported from China will…

The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) has released President Donald Trump’s 2019 Trade Policy Agenda and 2018 Annual Report, detailing how the Trump administration’s trade policies “are benefitting American workers and contributing to the strongest economy in decades.” Claiming that the Trump administration “inherited a significantly flawed trading system,” the report states…

On February 28, 2019, the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) submitted to Congress and released to the public a summary of the Trump administration’s specific negotiating objectives for its United States-United Kingdom trade agreement negotiations. This follows the USTR’s notification to Congress on October 16, 2018, of the Trump administration’s intention to enter into negotiations (see…

At the direction of President Donald Trump and due to recent progress in trade negotiations with China, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) announced that the Section 301 duty rate for certain products imported from China “will remain at 10 percent until further notice.” The announcement will be formally published in the Federal…

On November 30, 2018, the United States, Mexico and Canada officially signed the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), a proposed free trade agreement that, if approved by Congress and ratified by the governments of Canada and Mexico, would revise and modernize the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). Known as “NAFTA 2.0” during the trilateral negotiations,…

On February 27, 2019, Ambassador Robert Lighthizer, U.S. Trade Representative (USTR), testified before the House Ways & Means Committee on U.S.-China trade relations. In his brief opening statement, the ambassador stated that the United States “can compete with anyone in the world but we must have rules – enforced rules – that make sure…

President Donald Trump announced via Twitter on Sunday, February 24, 2019, that he will be postponing the scheduled March 2, 2019, increase in Section 301 tariffs from 10 to 25 percent on $200 billion worth of imported Chinese products due to “substantial progress” in ongoing trade negotiations between the two countries. While the postponement is…

On February 20, 2019, Vulcan Steel Products Inc. (Vulcan) filed a petition with the U.S. Department of Commerce (Commerce) and the U.S. International Trade Commission (Commission) seeking antidumping duties (ADD) and countervailing duties (CVD) on imports of carbon and alloy steel threaded rod (CASTR) from the People’s Republic of China, India, Taiwan and Thailand. According…

On February 19, 2019, the Coalition for Acetone Fair Trade (Coalition) filed a petition with the U.S. Department of Commerce (Commerce) and the U.S. International Trade Commission (Commission) seeking antidumping duties (ADD) on imports of acetone from Belgium, Korea, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Africa and Spain. The Coalition consists of U.S. acetone producers AdvanSix Inc.,…

On February 15, 2019, President Trump signed the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2019 (Act) that fully funds the government for the remainder of the fiscal year ending on September 30, 2019. With Congress and the president agreeing on these appropriations, a second partial government shutdown was averted. Included in the Act is a provision authorizing additional…