The U.S. International Trade Commission (USITC) determined December 7, 2018, by a 5-0 unanimous vote of its commissioners that U.S. industry is materially injured by reason of imports of common alloy aluminum sheet from China. This finding follows the determination of the U.S. Department of Commerce’s International Trade Administration (ITA) in early November that such…

On December 1, 2018, President Donald Trump announced his intention to formally terminate the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) in 2019. Addressing the press aboard Air Force One, Trump stated that he will terminate the agreement within six months in an effort to get the U.S. Congress to move on implementing the United States-Mexico-Canada…

At a dinner meeting on December 1, 2018, at the G-20 summit in Buenos Aires, U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping agreed to begin negotiations on changes regarding forced technology transfer, intellectual property protection, non-tariff barriers, cyber intrusions and cyber theft, services and agriculture. Both agreed to seek completion of such discussions…

On the sidelines of the international G-20 (Group of Twenty) forum in Buenos Aires, Argentina, U.S. President Donald Trump, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto signed today the new United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), launching the formal process to replace the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). During the signing ceremony,…

On September 18, 2018, the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) announced the exclusion request process for the Trump administration’s second tranche of products covered under the Section 301 trade action against China for its unfair policies and practices involving forced technology transfers and intellectual property rights. On August 16, 2018, the United States implemented retaliatory tariffs…

The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) has released an updated Section 301 report concerning China’s forced technology transfers and infringement of intellectual property rights. This report updates the original March 22, 2018 investigation findings and follows the U.S. government’s imposition of import tariffs on July 6, 2018, August 23, 2018 and September 24,…

U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) issued a significant ruling in September that distinguished between North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) country-of-origin marking rules and the country-of-origin rules applying to products subject to Section 301 tariffs and trade remedy duties. In its ruling, CBP determined that Chinese-origin components imported into Mexico for assembly into an…

On November 19, 2018, the Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) at the Department of Commerce issued an Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPRM) seeking public comment on criteria for identifying emerging technologies essential to U.S. national security. In the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2019, Congress passed the Export Control Reform…

On October 16, 2018, the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) notified Congress of the Trump administration’s plans to enter into free trade agreement negotiations with the United Kingdom (UK) after the UK has exited the European Union. (See Trump and Trade Update dated October 17, 2018.) The USTR is seeking to remove both tariff and…

Early in his presidency, President Donald Trump undertook a review of U.S. policy toward Cuba and announced, via a presidential memorandum in June 2017, revisions to that policy to once again restrict certain travel and limit the sale of goods and technology that might benefit the Cuban military. (See Trump and Trade Update of June…