The Department of Energy’s Request for Information seeks input for the 2026 Energy Critical Materials Assessment (CMA), which will identify materials critical for energy based on two primary factors: importance to energy and...more
Between March 4, 2025, and March 6, 2025, U.S. trade policy in North America changed course multiple times as the Trump administration initially implemented previously paused tariffs on imports from Canada and Mexico, and two...more
3/11/2025
/ Canada ,
China ,
Duties ,
Imports ,
International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) ,
International Trade ,
Mexico ,
Retaliation ,
Tariffs ,
Trade Policy ,
Trade Wars ,
Trump Administration ,
United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) ,
US Trade Policies ,
USTR
On February 10, 2025, President Trump issued two Presidential Proclamations reimposing and expanding tariffs on all steel and aluminum imports into the United States pursuant to Section 232 of the Trade Adjustment Act of...more
2/14/2025
/ China ,
Imports ,
International Trade ,
National Security ,
Section 232 ,
Supply Chain ,
Tariffs ,
Trade Policy ,
Trump Administration ,
U.S. Commerce Department ,
US Trade Policies
After months of anticipation, on February 1, 2025, President Trump announced the imposition of significant tariffs on Mexico, Canada, and China through three Executive Orders (EOs). While additional details are expected to be...more
2/2/2025
/ Canada ,
China ,
Imports ,
International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) ,
Mexico ,
National Security ,
Supply Chain ,
Tariffs ,
Trade Relations ,
Trump Administration ,
US Trade Policies ,
WTO
On September 13, 2024 USTR announced modifications to the tariffs originally imposed under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974 to pressure China to eliminate unreasonable policies and practices related to technology transfer...more
9/23/2024
/ Batteries ,
China ,
Electric Vehicles ,
Imports ,
Section 301 ,
Semiconductors ,
Supply Chain ,
Tariffs ,
Trade Relations ,
US Trade Policies ,
USTR
This past year saw a continued trend in building supply chain resiliency, as this topic has grown increasingly important following Covid-19, the conflict in Ukraine, shifting landscape on tariffs, forced labor concerns and a...more
2/23/2024
/ China ,
Customs and Border Protection ,
Export Controls ,
Forced Labor ,
Foreign Adversaries ,
Imports ,
National Security ,
Section 301 ,
Semiconductors ,
Supply Chain ,
Tariffs ,
Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA)
During 2023 both Congress and the Biden Administration repeatedly expressed the need to secure critical supply chains, particularly batteries that rely heavily on lithium and critical minerals sourced from China. Concerns...more
1/31/2024
/ Batteries ,
China ,
Entity List ,
Exports ,
Forced Labor ,
Human Rights ,
Imports ,
Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) ,
National Security ,
Supply Chain ,
Tax Credits ,
Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA)
This post marks the second entry in our Year-in-Review series. For prior posts, click here. Few sectors have been more affected by the sanctions on Russia than the energy industry....more
As part of its continuing efforts to protect US communications networks from communications equipment and services that pose a national security risk, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) on June 17, 2021, released a...more
On January 13, 2021, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) issued a withhold-release order (WRO) on all cotton and tomato products from China’s Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR) based on information that reasonably...more
On April 19, 2020, the Treasury Department in conjunction with Customs and Border Protection (CBP) released a temporary interim final rule (“Rule”) to provide importers that meet the qualifying criteria with the option of a...more
On Friday, March 20, 2020, in an effort to fight against the coronavirus pandemic, the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) announced that it is accepting exclusions requests to remove tariffs imposed on Chinese origin...more
Criminal investigations will target businesses profiting from the importation into the United States of goods made using forced labor.
The new criminal enforcement initiative seeks to leverage data about corporate supply...more
8/6/2019
/ Compliance ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Criminal Prosecution ,
Customer Due Diligence (CDD) ,
Customs and Border Protection ,
Department of Homeland Security (DHS) ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Forced Labor ,
Imports ,
NGOs ,
Strategic Enforcement Plan ,
Supply Chain ,
Tariff Act of 1930 ,
Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000
On September 1, a new round of Section 301 duties will be imposed on “List 4” products. President Trump previously announced plans for these duties, but had delayed implementation in June citing progress on the negotiations...more
Third-party petitions seeking to ban the importation of goods made with forced labor may affect global supply chains.
Petitions are being filed with U.S. Custom and Border Protection seeking to ban the importation into the...more
7/26/2019
/ CAATSA ,
Corporate Governance ,
Corporate Liability ,
Corporate Social Responsibility ,
Customs and Border Protection ,
Due Diligence ,
Economic Sanctions ,
Forced Labor ,
Human Trafficking ,
Imports ,
Modern Slavery Act ,
North Korea ,
Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) ,
Risk Management ,
Supply Chain ,
Third-Party ,
Trade Facilitation and Trade Enforcement Act
On May 21, the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) established a process through which U.S. stakeholders may exclude products included in List 3 from a 25% tariff imposed pursuant to the investigation of...more
Further to our prior blog post, on May 13, 2019, at the direction of President Trump, the Office of U.S. Trade Representative (“USTR”) published a proposed tariff list covering approximately $300 billion worth of Chinese...more
On May 9, 2019, the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) issued a Federal Notice indicating that tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese imports would be increased from 10% to 25%. ...more
June 15, 2018 – U.S. proposes an additional 25 percent ad valorem duty on products from China (818 tariff categories) with an annual trade value of approximately $34 billion. The $34 billion action became effective on July 6,...more
Following President Trump’s direction in connection with the Section 301 investigation into China’s acts, policies and practices related to intellectual property, on June 15, 2018, the Office of U.S. Trade Representative...more
On May 23, 2018, as directed by President Trump, the Secretary of Commerce initiated a Section 232 investigation into whether imports of automobiles, including SUVs, vans, light trucks and automotive parts, threaten to impair...more
President Trump issued a memorandum (“Memorandum”) directing his Administration to take several actions related to the investigation by the Office of U.S. Trade Representative (“USTR”) into China’s acts, policies, and...more
Pursuant to President’s Trump’s March 8, 2018 proclamations issued under authority of Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962, added customs tariffs on imports of a wide variety of steel and aluminum imports from all...more
On March 8, 2018, President Trump signed proclamations authorizing the imposition of a 25 percent customs duty on certain steel products and a 10 percent customs duty on certain aluminum products. The duties were imposed...more
On November 22, 2017, Apple, Inc. (“Apple”) released a statement confirming reports that its major supplier in China, Foxconn Technology Group (“Foxconn”) has used illegal student labor to assemble the latest version of the...more
12/5/2017
/ Apple ,
China ,
Customs and Border Protection ,
Economic Sanctions ,
Forced Labor ,
Imports ,
iPhone ,
Manufacturers ,
North Korea ,
Supply Chain ,
Tariff Act of 1930 ,
Trade Facilitation and Trade Enforcement Act