Unless you’re a customs or logistics professional, you may not have focused on the Incoterms changes announced by the International Chamber of Commerce in early 2020. This post provides a handy reference to the revised...more
On Tuesday, May 19, the U.S. Commerce Department published a regulation (effective May 15, 2020) that prohibits sale to Huawei of a microchip made to a Huawei specification, made outside the United States with non-U.S....more
On May 1, 2020, President Trump issued Executive Order 13920 (“Executive Order”), which prohibited certain transactions involving bulk-power system electric equipment manufactured or supplied by persons owned by, controlled...more
Is your company in a high-risk zone? Does it have the following risk characteristics?
? Your company imports more than $10 million of goods.
? You are mid-market: between $50 million and $2 billion in annual turnover.
?...more
The scenario happens all the time:
Your engineering department has identified a need for more personnel who will work with export-controlled information. Management has approved the hiring, and your Human Resources manager...more
4/9/2020
/ Anti-Discrimination Policies ,
Best Practices ,
Confidential Information ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Decision-Making Process ,
Discipline ,
Discrimination ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Exempt-Employees ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Human Resources Professionals ,
Job Promotions ,
Non-Exempt Employees ,
Personnel Records ,
Protected Class ,
Supervisors ,
Wage and Hour ,
Young Lawyers
This spring, two major sports teams were caught cheating. Both are consistent championship contenders in recent years.
In the United States, hardly any sports fan could have missed the report released by Major League...more
3/11/2020
/ Baseball ,
Corporate Culture ,
Corporate Fines ,
Corruption ,
Ethics ,
EU ,
Football ,
Gambling ,
Houston Astros ,
Investigations ,
Leadership ,
MLB ,
Scandals ,
Soccer ,
Sponsors ,
Sports ,
Sports Gambling
As trade with our North American neighbors continues to evolve and grow, we’re taking a closer look at the newly ratified United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) and examining how the new Agreement will impact trade...more
2/21/2020
/ Automotive Industry ,
Canada ,
Cross-Border Transactions ,
Exports ,
Foreign Relations ,
Free Trade Agreements ,
Imports ,
Mexico ,
NAFTA ,
Trade Relations ,
Trump Administration ,
United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) ,
US Trade Policies
The most pressing question around the new FIRRMA regulations is “Will my transaction be covered?” To provide a bit of guidance on that point, we present an illustration from our upcoming Second Edition of The CFIUS Book due...more
1/29/2020
/ Australia ,
Canada ,
CFIUS ,
Covered Transactions ,
Cross-Border Transactions ,
Encryption ,
Exceptions ,
Exports ,
Federal Pilot Programs ,
Filing Requirements ,
Final Rules ,
FIRRMA ,
Foreign Investment ,
Investment Funds ,
National Security ,
Private Equity ,
Proposed Regulation ,
Real Estate Transactions ,
Software ,
Technology ,
Technology Sector ,
UK
On January 16, 2020, the United States Senate voted by an overwhelming majority to pass the implementing legislation for the United States-Mexico-Canada Trade Agreement (USMCA) after months of tense negotiations with...more
1/20/2020
/ Automotive Industry ,
Canada ,
Digital Services ,
Environmental Policies ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Forced Labor ,
Free Trade Agreements ,
Intellectual Property Protection ,
Mexico ,
NAFTA ,
Sunset Provisions ,
Trade Relations ,
United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) ,
US Trade Policies
On Friday, October 11, 2019, the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) opened the Miscellaneous Tariff Bill (MTB) “duty suspension” process. That process allows companies to petition for suspensions and reductions to the...more
The U.S. Department of Education is just now starting to pay attention to a reporting requirement in the Higher Education Act (HEA) that harkens back to the 1980s. Penalties for failure to properly report can be stark,...more
In July, the U.S. Department of Education Notices of Investigation to four U.S. universities seeking information on the “Confucius Institutes” operating on their campuses. The investigations center on provisions of the Higher...more
Europe has come up with a nifty plan to help Iran buy and sell stuff outside the reach of U.S. sanctions. The problem is that the plan is a fraud magnet. How do we know? It’s been tried before, and the fraud was epic.
The...more
8/20/2019
/ Cross-Border Transactions ,
Economic Sanctions ,
EU ,
Exports ,
Foreign Policy ,
Foreign Relations ,
Fraud ,
Humanitarian Assistance ,
Imports ,
INSTEX ,
Iran ,
Iran Sanctions ,
Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA)
Less than a year following our first discussion about the U.S.- China trade war, we’re revisiting the topic with former guest Scott Maberry. We’re examining whether fears of China becoming a dominant world economic player are...more
On May 16, 2019, a sweeping U.S. export control rule went into effect that will impact the U.S. tech industry, but may also create an outsized risk for non-U.S. manufacturers. The rule, issued by the U.S. Department of...more
5/22/2019
/ Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) ,
China ,
Entity List ,
Export Administration Regulations (EAR) ,
Export Controls ,
Exports ,
Foreign Policy ,
Huawei ,
Manufacturers ,
National Security ,
Prohibited Transactions ,
Supply Chain ,
Technology Sector ,
Telecommunications ,
U.S. Commerce Department
Many U.S. companies continue to struggle under the burden of President Trump’s tariffs on imports from China. The repercussions of the trade war are likely to worsen in coming weeks. On March 2, 2019 at 12:01 a.m. Eastern...more
2/22/2019
/ China ,
Exclusions ,
Imports ,
Intellectual Property Protection ,
Section 301 ,
Supply Chain ,
Tariffs ,
Trade Act of 1974 ,
Trade Relations ,
Trump Administration ,
Unfair or Deceptive Trade Practices ,
US Trade Policies ,
USTR
• Emerging technology sectors are being reviewed now for new export controls that could take effect in 2019 (list below).
• You may submit comments on the criteria the U.S. government will use to determine what technologies...more
12/11/2018
/ Comment Period ,
Critical Infrastructure Sectors ,
Cross-Border Transactions ,
Emerging Technology Companies ,
Export Controls ,
Exports ,
Foreign Nationals ,
National Security ,
Proposed Rules ,
Public Comment ,
Technology Sector
Key Takeaways:
• Emerging technology sectors will soon be subject to new export controls.
• Affected sectors include biotech, computing, artificial intelligence, positioning and navigation, data analytics, additive...more
11/19/2018
/ Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) ,
CFIUS ,
Comment Period ,
Critical Infrastructure Sectors ,
Cross-Border Transactions ,
Emerging Technology Companies ,
Export Administration Regulations (EAR) ,
Export Controls ,
Exports ,
FIRRMA ,
Foreign Acquisitions ,
Foreign Investment ,
Foreign Nationals ,
Mergers ,
National Security ,
Public Comment ,
Technology Sector ,
U.S. Commerce Department
This article suggests steps you should take to survive the current trade war. We are now in a trade war regardless of the fact that Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin would rather we call it “a situation of trade disputes.”...more
8/8/2018
/ Anti-Dumping Duty ,
Countervailing Duties ,
Imports ,
International Trade Disputes ,
Section 232 ,
Section 301 ,
Supply Chain ,
Tariff Classifications ,
Tariffs ,
Trade Act of 1974 ,
Trade Expansion Act of 1962 ,
Trade Policy ,
Trade Relations ,
Trump Administration
We’ll give him this: President Trump has an ambitious trade agenda. This fire has many irons in it, and some of them are getting hot. Here at the Global Trade Law Blog, we’ve been following trade law for approximately 250...more
6/29/2018
/ Canada ,
CFIUS ,
China ,
Exports ,
FIRRMA ,
Foreign Direct Investment ,
Intellectual Property Protection ,
Investors ,
Iran Sanctions ,
Mexico ,
NAFTA ,
National Security ,
Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) ,
Tariffs ,
Trump Administration
In what has become his trademark Trumpian manner, the President announced last Friday that new tariffs and trade restrictions against China are on again, at the same moment that his senior Commerce and Treasury Department...more
6/8/2018
/ Acquisitions ,
Arms Embargo ,
CFIUS ,
China ,
Export Administration Regulations (EAR) ,
Export Controls ,
Foreign Investment ,
Imports ,
ITAR ,
National Security ,
Tariffs ,
Trade Relations ,
Trump Administration ,
US Trade Policies
1. All sanctions on Iran that were in place before January 2016 will be re-imposed no later than November, 4 2018.
2. Secondary sanctions that penalize non-U.S. persons doing business with Iran will be reinstated.
3....more
5/14/2018
/ Economic Sanctions ,
Exports ,
Foreign Financial Institutions (FFI) ,
Foreign Policy ,
Foreign Relations ,
General Licenses ,
Goods or Services ,
Imports ,
Iran ,
Iran Sanctions ,
Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) ,
NDAA ,
Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) ,
SDN List ,
Trump Administration
On April 3, 2018, President Trump’s U.S. Trade Representative released a list of 1300 categories of Chinese goods that will be subject to 25% tariffs. That followed a tit-for-tat exchange in which President Trump announced a...more
4/13/2018
/ Agricultural Sector ,
Aluminum Sales ,
Article I ,
Article II ,
Automotive Industry ,
China ,
Countervailing Duties ,
Imports ,
National Security ,
Steel Industry ,
Tariffs ,
Trade Expansion Act of 1962 ,
Trump Administration ,
US Trade Policies ,
WTO
If your company is a U.S. consumer of imported steel or aluminum, the new tariffs announced by President Trump on March 8, 2018 are bad news. The good news is that you can petition the government for exclusions of certain...more
3/15/2018
/ Aluminum Sales ,
Imports ,
Manufacturers ,
NAFTA ,
National Security ,
Steel Industry ,
Suppliers ,
Tariffs ,
Tax Exemptions ,
Tax Rates ,
Trade Expansion Act of 1962 ,
Trade Restrictions ,
Trump Administration ,
U.S. Commerce Department ,
US Trade Policies
U.S. importers are seeing an increase in enforcement activity by U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Here are the ten things you must know about this trend....more
3/9/2018
/ Anti-Dumping Duty ,
Audits ,
Big Data ,
Countervailing Duties ,
Customs and Border Protection ,
Data Collection ,
Department of Homeland Security (DHS) ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Fines ,
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) ,
Importers ,
NAFTA ,
New Legislation ,
Penalties ,
Risk Mitigation ,
Strategic Planning ,
Tariff Classifications ,
Trade Remedies ,
Voluntary Disclosure