On 27 May 2020 U.S. Secretary of State Pompeo certified to Congress that the State Department no longer considers Hong Kong to have significant autonomy from China and therefore "Hong Kong does not continue to warrant...more
On 24 April 2020 United States Trade Representative (USTR) Robert Lighthizer notified Congress that the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) will enter into force 1 July 2020. As a result, the North American Free...more
5/27/2020
/ 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
On 17 April the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) released significant exceptions (effective Friday 17 April, but to be published on 21 April) to FEMA's temporary final rule prohibiting exports of certain personal...more
With reports of widespread shortages of personal protective equipment (PPE) and ventilators and the COVID-19 pandemic continuing to expand nationwide, the Trump Administration has turned to the Defense Production Act (DPA) –...more
4/9/2020
/ Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Defense Production Act ,
Exports ,
Federal Contractors ,
FEMA ,
Imports ,
Manufacturers ,
Medical Devices ,
Medical Supplies ,
Personal Protective Equipment ,
Supply Chain
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) has announced it is accepting comments on potential Section 301 tariff exclusions for Chinese imports necessary to respond to the coronavirus. USTR is likely to expeditiously...more
3/30/2020
/ China ,
Comment Period ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Exclusions ,
Imports ,
International Harmonization ,
Medical Supplies ,
Section 301 ,
Supply Chain ,
Tariffs ,
Trade Relations ,
Trump Administration ,
US Trade Policies ,
USTR
A deeper dive into the president's FY2021 budget request for the U.S. Department of Commerce reveals new initiatives aimed at safeguarding technology.
- The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA)...more
2/28/2020
/ 5G Network ,
Artificial Intelligence ,
Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) ,
China ,
Critical Infrastructure Sectors ,
Emerging Technologies ,
Export Controls ,
NIST ,
NTIA ,
Supply Chain ,
Telecommunications ,
Trump Administration ,
U.S. Commerce Department
The United States-Mexico-Canada Trade Agreement (USMCA) is noteworthy for its novel “facility specific rapid response labor mechanism” (the Rapid Response Mechanism or Mechanism). The Mechanism permits the United States or...more
2/11/2020
/ Canada ,
Collective Bargaining ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Cross-Border Transactions ,
Employee Rights ,
Federal Labor Laws ,
Foreign Relations ,
Free Trade Agreements ,
International Labor Laws ,
Labor Disputes ,
Labor Regulations ,
Manufacturing Facilities ,
Mexico ,
NLRB ,
Trade Relations ,
Trump Administration ,
United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) ,
US Trade Policies
On 15 January 2020, President Donald J. Trump and Chinese Vice Premier Liu He signed a “Phase One” Agreement between the United States and China, a truce halting the escalating trade tensions between the two global trading...more
Congressional appropriations serve as a potent tool to guide administrative actions in commerce and trade
Before departing in the final days of 2019, Congress passed a bipartisan spending package amounting to US$1.4...more
1/7/2020
/ Appropriation ,
Automotive Industry ,
Bipartisan Budget ,
CFIUS ,
De Minimus Quantity Exemption ,
Duty Free ,
Export Controls ,
Exporters ,
Exports ,
Federal Budget ,
Foreign Investment ,
Foreign Policy ,
Imports ,
Infrastructure ,
Legislative Agendas ,
National Security ,
Requests for Exclusion ,
Section 232 ,
Section 301 ,
Stream of Commerce ,
Tariffs ,
Threshold Requirements ,
Tobacco ,
Tobacco Regulations ,
Trade Agreements ,
Trade Negotiations ,
Transparency ,
Trump Administration ,
U.S. Commerce Department
On 5 November 2019 the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) issued two new general licenses authorizing certain transactions involving the government of Venezuela (GOV) and certain individuals affiliated with the GOV,...more
On 14 October, President Donald Trump issued Executive Order 13894, Blocking Property and Suspending Entry of Certain Persons Contributing to the Situation in Syria (EO).
...more
10/18/2019
/ Blocked Person ,
Economic Sanctions ,
Executive Orders ,
Foreign Financial Institutions (FFI) ,
Foreign Policy ,
Foreign Relations ,
General Licenses ,
Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) ,
SDN List ,
Syria ,
Trump Administration ,
Turkey ,
Unauthorized Transactions
On 17 September 2019 the U.S. Department of the Treasury announced proposed regulations to "comprehensively implement the Foreign Investment Risk Review Modernization Act of 2018 (FIRRMA)."
...more
On 4 September 2019 the U.S. State Department issued "Draft 'U.S. Government Guidance for the Export of Hardware, Software and Technology with Surveillance Capabilities and/or parts/know-how'" (draft guidance).
...more
9/12/2019
/ Artificial Intelligence ,
Best Practices ,
Big Data ,
Comment Period ,
Compliance Management Systems ,
Draft Guidance ,
Drones ,
Due Diligence ,
Economic Sanctions ,
Export Controls ,
Exports ,
Facial Recognition Technology ,
Human Rights ,
Policies and Procedures ,
Social Media ,
Software Developers ,
Spyware ,
Surveillance ,
Telecommunications ,
Trump Administration ,
US State Departments
Consumer companies on both sides of the Pacific are feeling the impact of the U.S.-China trade war. Targeted by the retaliatory tariffs imposed by both governments and already feeling price pressure as consumer confidence has...more
9/10/2019
/ China ,
Economic Downturn ,
Exports ,
Imports ,
Requests for Exclusion ,
Section 301 ,
Supply Chain ,
Tariffs ,
Trade Relations ,
Trade Retaliation ,
Trade Wars ,
Trump Administration ,
US Trade Policies ,
USTR
On 10 July 2019, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) initiated an investigation pursuant to Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974 into France’s Digital Services Tax (DST) to determine whether the tax is...more
8/20/2019
/ Digital Services Tax ,
Discrimination ,
E-Commerce ,
e-Services ,
France ,
Internet ,
Regulatory Burden ,
Section 301 ,
Stream of Commerce ,
Trade Act of 1974 ,
USTR ,
Websites
Following on the heels of U.S. trade negotiators’ return from China, on 1 August, President Trump abruptly announced via Twitter an “additional Tariff of 10 percent on the remaining 300 Billion Dollars of goods and products...more
8/14/2019
/ China ,
Currency Manipulation ,
Direct to Consumer Sales ,
Economic Downturn ,
Exports ,
Imports ,
Requests for Exclusion ,
Section 301 ,
Supply Chain ,
Tariffs ,
Trade Relations ,
Trade Retaliation ,
Trade Wars ,
Trump Administration ,
U.S. Commerce Department ,
U.S. Treasury ,
US Trade Policies ,
USTR
On 10 July 2019 the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) initiated an investigation pursuant to Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974 into France's digital services tax to determine whether the tax is discriminatory...more
The ongoing U.S.—China trade conflict touches industries from agriculture to manufacturing and products from automobiles to seafood, with the U.S. and China imposing tariffs on hundreds of billions of dollars of goods.
In...more
The basic elements of the U.S.-EU trade relationship have not changed in recent years: The integration of the two economies has gone so far that most exchanges take place in a quasi-free trade zone environment. But the...more
The U.S. and the EU have been the leading forces behind the development of the multilateral trading systems from the GATT to the WTO. The WTO has the advantage of a global membership and a comprehensive reach, which, in spite...more
On 20 June 2019 the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) announced the final product exclusion process for List 3 by which U.S. stakeholders can request exclusion of particular Chinese products classified...more
6/25/2019
/ China ,
Cross-Border Transactions ,
Exclusion List ,
Foreign Investment ,
Imports ,
Section 301 ,
Trade Act of 1974 ,
Trade Wars ,
Trump Administration ,
Unfair or Deceptive Trade Practices ,
USTR
The dynamism of the Technology, Media and Telecoms sector is set to continue.
Challengers can reach scale seemingly overnight, forcing market change at a similar speed. Established business models are upended, driving...more
6/21/2019
/ 5G Network ,
Antitrust Provisions ,
Artificial Intelligence ,
Big Data ,
Digital Media ,
Drones ,
eSports ,
Foreign Investment ,
General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) ,
Hulu ,
Intellectual Property Protection ,
Internet Streaming ,
Netflix ,
Outer Space ,
Satellites ,
Standard Essential Patents ,
Telecommunications ,
Television Programming ,
Trade Policy ,
UK Brexit
The ongoing U.S.-China trade conflict touches industries from agriculture to manufacturing and products from automobiles to seafood, with the United States and China imposing tariffs on hundreds of billions of dollars of...more
President Trump's Memorandum on Combating Trafficking in Counterfeit and Pirated Goods (memorandum) commissions a report, due 30 October 2019, requiring the collection and analysis of information as well as preparation of...more
Legislation funding the U.S. Government that was signed into law by President Trump on 15 February 2019 includes a provision requiring an exclusion process for articles subject to the third round of tariffs on Chinese...more