On August 7, 2025, President Trump’s reciprocal tariffs fully came into effect. The overall U.S. effective tariff rate has now risen to an estimated 18.6%, which is the highest rate since 1934. Several countries continue to...more
If the White House wants tariffs, but the courts strike down the Reciprocal Tariffs, what other options are out there?
This is the question we asked ourselves and the answer is: there are plenty of other options. If it...more
Anyhow, on a possibly related note, on May 14, 2025, BIS announced that it will rescind the AI Diffusion Rule and that, until the time of the official recission, would not enforce the Biden-era regulation.
Stop-Gap Stopped...more
5/19/2025
/ AI Act ,
Artificial Intelligence ,
Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) ,
China ,
Export Controls ,
National Security ,
Popular ,
Regulatory Reform ,
Rulemaking Process ,
Semiconductors ,
Technology Sector ,
U.S. Commerce Department
The second Trump administration has come flying out of the starting blocks on international trade policy actions—imposing and rescinding, shaping and reshaping tariffs, sanctions, and export controls. The executive orders and...more
The second Trump administration has come flying out of the starting blocks on international trade policy actions—imposing and rescinding, shaping and reshaping tariffs, sanctions, and export controls. The executive orders and...more
The second Trump administration has come flying out of the starting blocks on international trade policy actions—imposing and rescinding, shaping and reshaping tariffs, sanctions, and export controls. The executive orders and...more
4/24/2025
/ Artificial Intelligence ,
Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) ,
China ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Export Administration Regulations (EAR) ,
Export Controls ,
National Security ,
Regulatory Reform ,
Russia ,
Semiconductors ,
Technology Sector ,
Trump Administration ,
U.S. Commerce Department
On April 2, President Trump issued an Executive Order (EO) imposing global reciprocal tariffs (White House Fact Sheet). The EO drew enough parallels to the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act that Trump mentioned it in his Rose Garden...more
On January 8, 2025, the Department of Justice (“DOJ”) published its final rule addressing Executive Order (E.O.) 14117, “Preventing Access to Americans’ Bulk Sensitive Personal Data and United States Government-Related Data...more
1/30/2025
/ Artificial Intelligence ,
China ,
Compliance ,
Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act (CISA) ,
Data Privacy ,
Data Protection ,
Data Security ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Enforcement ,
Export Controls ,
Final Rules ,
Information Technology ,
International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) ,
National Security ,
Personal Data ,
Privacy Laws ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Regulatory Requirements ,
Risk Management ,
Technology Sector
To kick off the New Year (and as is now tradition, since we put out a similar Recap & Forecast last year), Sheppard Mullin’s Governmental Practice Cybersecurity & Data Protection Team has prepared a cybersecurity-focused 2024...more
1/8/2025
/ Artificial Intelligence ,
Compliance ,
Critical Infrastructure Sectors ,
Cybersecurity ,
Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC) ,
Data Protection ,
Department of Defense (DOD) ,
DFARS ,
Enforcement ,
Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR) ,
Federal Contractors ,
FedRAMP ,
National Security ,
Reporting Requirements ,
Risk Management ,
Software
On December 2, 2024, the Department of Commerce, Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) issued a new set of regulations targeting semiconductors manufacturing equipment (SME) and high-bandwidth memory (HBM) chips. The updates...more
12/23/2024
/ Artificial Intelligence ,
Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) ,
CFIUS ,
China ,
Commerce Control List ,
Export Controls ,
Exports ,
Foreign Direct Product Rule ,
Manufacturers ,
National Security ,
Semiconductors ,
Technology Sector
In two recent rules, the Department of Commerce, Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) has begun to take significant steps to monitor, and potentially control access to, U.S. artificial intelligence (AI) technology. AI...more
On October 28, 2024, the U.S. Department of Treasury released a pre-publication version of its final rule containing the outbound investment regulations.
The rule arrives a little over a year after Executive Order 14105,...more
10/31/2024
/ Artificial Intelligence ,
CFIUS ,
Enforcement ,
Final Rules ,
Financial Institutions ,
International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) ,
Investment ,
National Security ,
New Regulations ,
Outbound Transactions ,
SAFE ,
Semiconductors ,
Technology Sector ,
U.S. Treasury ,
Voluntary Disclosure
Pull quote: “Every export—every single one—has a related financial transaction”
You are a banker. You do bankery things. You look at the ledgers, you tot up the numbers, you manage the accounts. Maybe you make loans,...more
On July 29, 2024, the U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) proposed a series of transformative new rules aimed at tightening controls related to military, intelligence, and security activities...more
On June 28, 2024, in a landmark decision, the Supreme Court overruled the four decade old case Chevron v. Natural Resources Defense Council. This pivotal decision should spur businesses to recalibrate their existing...more
8/1/2024
/ Administrative Procedure Act ,
Chevron Deference ,
Chevron v NRDC ,
Cybersecurity ,
Government Agencies ,
Judicial Authority ,
Loper Bright Enterprises v Raimondo ,
Popular ,
SCOTUS ,
Statutory Authority ,
Statutory Interpretation
Effective July 10, 2024, President Biden issued two Presidential Proclamations aimed at refining the tariff exclusions under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962 for steel and aluminum imports from Mexico. Together,...more
For companies in the U.S. that hold certain personal data and U.S. Government-related data, rules stemming from recent Executive Order (“EO”) 14117 on “Preventing Access to Americans’ Bulk Sensitive Personal Data and United...more
The Biden Administration recently issued an Executive Order aimed at protecting American’s sensitive information and certain US Government data from threats posed by foreign actors. Of note is the Order’s focus on data...more
4/25/2024
/ Biden Administration ,
Cybersecurity ,
Data Brokers ,
Data Privacy ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Executive Orders ,
Export Controls ,
National Security ,
Personal Data ,
Privacy Laws ,
Prohibited Transactions
On March 29, 2024, BIS issued an interim final rule (IFR) updating and correcting its advanced computing and semiconductor regulations published in October 2023 (which we discuss here in Episode III). This marks the third...more
Author and futurist Peter Zeihan recently asserted that President Joe Biden has presided over “the most protectionist administration the United States has had in at least a century.” And Donald Trump reportedly plans to...more
4/5/2024
/ Anti-Dumping Duty ,
Countervailing Duties ,
Customs and Border Protection ,
Donald Trump ,
EU ,
Export Controls ,
Exports ,
Free Trade Agreements ,
Imports ,
Investment ,
Joe Biden ,
Supply Chain ,
Tariffs ,
Trade Relations
To kick off the New Year, Sheppard Mullin’s Governmental Practice Cybersecurity & Data Protection Team has prepared a cybersecurity-focused 2023 Recap (including links to all of the resources the team has put out over the...more
To kick off the New Year, Sheppard Mullin’s Governmental Practice Cybersecurity & Data Protection Team has prepared a cybersecurity-focused 2023 Recap (including links to all of the resources the team has put out over the...more
2/9/2024
/ Cloud Computing ,
Cybersecurity ,
Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC) ,
Data Protection ,
Data Rights ,
Data Security ,
Department of Defense (DOD) ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Federal Contractors ,
FedRAMP ,
Fraud ,
Privacy Laws ,
Software
The Department of Defense published a much-anticipated Proposed Rule at the end of last year for its Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification program. The proposed rule is our first comprehensive look at the latest...more
Grants and tax credits, who doesn’t love them? The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) is full of them, and, recent Department of Energy (DOE) Notification of a Proposed Interpretive Rule provides guidance on who will get to...more
1/15/2024
/ Automated Transportation ,
Batteries ,
Clean Energy ,
Department of Energy (DOE) ,
Electric Vehicles ,
Energy Sector ,
Foreign Entities ,
Manufacturers ,
Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) ,
Proposed Rules ,
Renewable Energy ,
SDN List ,
Supply Chain
Well, the wait is over. Just as 2023 came to a close, on December 26, 2023, the Department of Defense (“DoD”) published the much-anticipated Proposed Rule for the DoD’s Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (“CMMC”)...more
1/3/2024
/ Certification Requirements ,
Comment Period ,
Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI) ,
Cybersecurity ,
Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC) ,
DCMA ,
Defense Contracts ,
Defense Sector ,
Department of Defense (DOD) ,
DFARS ,
Federal Contractors ,
Proposed Rules