On January 15, 2021, the Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) issued an interim final rule implementing further provisions of the Export Control Reform Act of 2018 by: (i) imposing additional export license requirements under the Export Administration Regulations (EAR) in connection with certain military-intelligence end uses and end users; (ii) clarifying…

On January 19, 2021, the Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctioned and placed on the Specially Designated Nationals (SDN) List three individuals, fourteen entities, and six vessels for their involvement in a network attempting to evade U.S. sanctions on Venezuela’s oil sector.  According to a press release, the “illegitimate…

On January 15, 2020, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) released its annual reports submitted to Congress that assess China’s and Russia’s implementation of their World Trade Organization (WTO) commitments. In keeping with past annual USTR reports during the administration of President Donald Trump, the reports note that these countries’ records of compliance…

Key Notes:

  • U.S. persons must divest their holdings of publicly traded securities, derivatives and similar instruments of CCMCs by November 11, 2021.
  • Holdings in mutual funds and other pooled investment vehicles are subject to the divestment requirements.

On January 13, President Trump amended his previously issued Executive Order to address confusion over whether U.S. persons…

On January 15, 2021, barely two weeks after holding a public hearing into the matter and just over three months after initiating an investigation under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) issued its findings regarding Vietnam’s currency valuation. USTR found that “Vietnam’s acts, policies, and…

On January 14, 2021, the Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) issued a Federal Register notice announcing the addition and removal of certain Chinese and Russian entities from the Entity List and the Military End-User (MEU) List.

Notably, BIS added China National Offshore Oil Corporation Ltd. to the Entity List for its…

On January 15, 2021, the Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) published in the Federal Register final regulations to implement a July 14, 2020 Hong Kong-related Executive Order. In Executive Order 13936, President Donald Trump determined that Hong Kong was no longer sufficiently autonomous from the People’s Republic of China…

On January 14, 2021, President Donald Trump issued a Presidential Proclamation announcing that the United States was extending safeguard measures, in the form of tariff-rate quotas (TRQs), on imports of large residential washers and various washer parts for an additional two years. Pursuant to Section 201 of the Trade Act of 1974, President Trump implemented…

The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) has issued findings in three more Section 301 investigations of Digital Service Taxes (DSTs) adopted by Austria, Spain and the United Kingdom. In the reports, the USTR found that each of the DSTs  “discriminates against U.S. companies, is inconsistent with prevailing principles of international taxation, and burden…