In July, the Senate Armed Services Committee passed its version of the FY 2025 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which would make substantial changes to the rules for determining the “country of origin” of drugs for...more
On August 23, 2023, the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) issued its final guidance (“Guidance”) implementing the Build America, Buy America (BABA) provisions of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act...more
USTR announced that the actions arising from the Section 301 investigation of China’s Acts, Policies, and Practices Related to Technology Transfer, Intellectual Property, and Innovation would continue in light of hundreds of...more
Last month, on 8 September 2022, USTR announced that representatives of domestic industries benefiting from the tariff actions in the Section 301 investigation of “China’s Acts, Policies, and Practices Related to Technology...more
10/11/2022
/ Biden Administration ,
China ,
Competition ,
Exports ,
Imports ,
Section 301 ,
Supply Chain ,
Tariffs ,
Trade Relations ,
US Trade Policies ,
USTR
The Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (“UFLPA”) rebuttable presumption became effective on 21 June 2022. U.S. Customs and Border Protection (“CBP”) released its Operational Guidance on 13 June 2022, and the Forced Labor...more
The U.S. and the EU have announced a settlement regarding the U.S. Section 232 duties on European steel and aluminum products. As part of that settlement, the U.S. Department of Commerce (Commerce) announced that the 25...more
11/8/2021
/ Aluminum Sales ,
EU ,
Imports ,
Section 232 ,
Steel Industry ,
Supply Chain ,
Tariff Rate Quota (TRQ) ,
Tariffs ,
Trade Relations ,
US Trade Policies ,
WTO
On October 5, 2021, the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) issued a Notice and Request for Comments to consider the reinstatement of expired product exclusions from the China Section 301 tariffs. The USTR...more
10/8/2021
/ China ,
Comment Period ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Exclusions ,
Imports ,
Section 301 ,
Supply Chain ,
Tariffs ,
Trade Relations ,
US Trade Policies ,
USTR
On 30 July 2021, the FAR Council published a proposed rule to significantly strengthen “Buy American” requirements applicable to goods sold to the U.S. Government. The proposed rule promotes the procurement of goods,...more
8/4/2021
/ Biden Administration ,
Buy America ,
Buy American Act ,
Buy American and Hire American ,
Department of Defense (DOD) ,
Executive Orders ,
Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR) ,
Federal Contractors ,
Made in the USA ,
Manufacturers ,
Proposed Rules ,
Public Meetings ,
Supply Chain
Pursuant to Executive Order 14017, issued by President Biden on 24 February 2021, a federal government task force examined the vulnerabilities in America’s supply chains for semiconductor manufacturing and advanced packaging,...more
6/11/2021
/ Biden Administration ,
Critical Infrastructure Sectors ,
Executive Orders ,
Goods or Services ,
Manufacturers ,
Minerals ,
Pharmaceutical Industry ,
Semiconductors ,
Supply Chain ,
Unfair or Deceptive Trade Practices ,
USTR
On 25 January 2021, President Biden issued his first Buy American Executive Order (EO), titled Ensuring the Future Is Made in All of America by All of America’s Workers, which is meant to implement the “Made in America” plan...more
1/27/2021
/ Biden Administration ,
Buy America ,
Country of Origin ,
Critical Infrastructure Sectors ,
Executive Orders ,
Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR) ,
Federal Procurement Systems ,
Information Technology ,
Manufacturers ,
Regulatory Reform ,
Suppliers ,
Supply Chain
On 13 January 2021, U.S. Customs and Border Protection issued a region-wide Withhold Release Order (WRO) prohibiting all imports of cotton and tomato products from the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (Xinjiang) in response...more
1/20/2021
/ China ,
Commodities ,
Customs and Border Protection ,
Food Commodities ,
Forced Labor ,
Human Rights ,
Imports ,
Supply Chain ,
Trade Relations ,
US Trade Policies ,
Withhold Release Orders (WROs)
After eight years of negotiation, the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership on Trade (RCEP), the world's largest regional trade agreement, was signed in an online ceremony on 15 November 2020. The trade deal lowers...more
On 14 July, the same day the president signed into law the Hong Kong Autonomy Act (the act), President Trump issued the Executive Order on Hong Kong Normalization (the EO) directing federal agencies to impose a range of trade...more
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) on 22 June 2020 voted to adopt regulations codifying its long-standing Enforcement Policy Statement on U.S. Origin Claims (Policy Statement). The proposed regulations come after the FTC...more
7/8/2020
/ Country of Origin ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
FTC Act ,
Made in the USA ,
Online Advertisements ,
Product Labels ,
Proposed Rules ,
Rulemaking Process ,
Section 5 ,
Unfair or Deceptive Trade Practices
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 31 March 2020 the China Ministry of Commerce, the National Medical Products Administration (NMPA), and the General Administration of Customs (GAC) issued the Notice on the Orderly Exportation of Medical Supplies...more
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
On 19 April, President Trump issued an Executive Order providing for a temporary 90-day deferral, of estimated payments of duties, taxes, and fees to Customs and Border Protection (CBP) by importers “suffering significant...more
4/22/2020
/ Customs ,
Customs and Border Protection ,
Deferred Action ,
Executive Orders ,
Extreme Hardship ,
Imports ,
Most-Favored Nations ,
Regulatory Requirements ,
Relief Measures ,
Tariffs ,
Trump Administration
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
US Customs and Border Protection (“Customs”) rescinded its proposal to grant extensions on all customs duty payments for 90 days in response to the COVID-19 Pandemic. ...more
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
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (“CBP”) is exploring temporary measures to offset costs to U.S. businesses during the COVID-19 Pandemic. ...more
On Monday, in the much-anticipated decision in Acetris Health, LLC v. U.S. 18-2399, the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (the “Federal Circuit”) ruled that U.S. manufacture of a drug is sufficient to confer U.S....more
2/12/2020
/ Administrative Proceedings ,
Appeals ,
Bid Protests ,
Bid Solicitation ,
Country of Origin ,
Court of International Trade ,
Department of Veterans Affairs ,
Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR) ,
Federal Procurement Systems ,
Generic Drugs ,
India ,
Made in the USA ,
Manufacturers ,
Pharmaceutical Industry ,
Prescription Drugs ,
Procurement Guidelines ,
Statutory Interpretation ,
Supply Contracts ,
Trade Agreements Act
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