The Biden Administration and several allied countries announced on February 22 new economic sanctions on Russia and the separatist territories in Ukraine. In the United States, the sanctions target only certain Russian...more
2/23/2022
/ Biden Administration ,
Blocked Entities ,
Blocked Person ,
Economic Sanctions ,
Embargo ,
Financial Institutions ,
General Licenses ,
Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) ,
Russia ,
SDN List ,
U.S. Treasury ,
Ukraine
On January 24, 2022, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (“DHS”) published a notice in the Federal Register requesting public comments on the implementation of the new regional import restriction affecting goods from the...more
1/28/2022
/ Asia ,
China ,
Comment Period ,
Country of Origin ,
Customs and Border Protection ,
Forced Labor ,
Imports ,
Public Comment ,
Supply Chain ,
Tariff Act of 1930 ,
Trade Restrictions ,
US Trade Policies ,
Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA)
President Biden signed into law on December 23 legislation that will, for the first time, require U.S. Customs and Border Protection (“CBP”) to detain all imports that are made wholly or partly in the Xinjiang Uyghur...more
12/29/2021
/ Asia ,
Biden Administration ,
China ,
Customs and Border Protection ,
Department of Homeland Security (DHS) ,
Economic Sanctions ,
Executive Orders ,
Forced Labor ,
Foreign Policy ,
Human Rights ,
Imports ,
National Security ,
New Guidance ,
Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) ,
Procurement Guidelines ,
Rebuttable Presumptions ,
Reputation Management ,
Risk Management ,
Supply Chain ,
Technology Sector ,
Third-Party ,
Upstream Contracts ,
USTR
The U.S. Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security (“BIS”) has said it is contemplating new export controls on certain neurotechnology items and has adopted new controls on genetic sequencing software and...more
11/10/2021
/ Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPRM) ,
Asia ,
Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) ,
ECCNs ,
Export Administration Regulations (EAR) ,
Export Controls ,
Exports ,
Genetic Testing ,
Intrusion Software ,
Licenses ,
Software ,
Technology Sector ,
U.S. Commerce Department
On October 28, 2021, a bipartisan group of U.S. Senators introduced the Food Security is National Security Act of 2021 (the “Act”). Among other things, the Act would require the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United...more
11/4/2021
/ Acquisitions ,
Agribusiness ,
Beverage Manufacturers ,
CFIUS ,
Cross-Border ,
Cross-Border Transactions ,
Cyber Attacks ,
Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act (CISA) ,
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) ,
Export Administration Regulations (EAR) ,
Export Controls ,
FIRRMA ,
Food and Drug Administration (FDA) ,
Food Manufacturers ,
Foreign Investment ,
Mergers ,
National Security ,
Popular ,
Proposed Legislation ,
Supply Chain ,
Technology ,
U.S. Treasury ,
USDA
As part of the Biden Administration’s comprehensive review of U.S. policy towards China, Katherine Tai, the U.S. Trade Representative (“USTR”), has requested public comments on whether USTR should reinstate certain...more
10/19/2021
/ Biden Administration ,
China ,
Country of Origin ,
Exclusions ,
Imports ,
Public Comment ,
Requests for Exclusion ,
Section 301 ,
Tariffs ,
Trade Relations ,
US Trade Policies ,
USTR
The Bureau of Industry and Security (“BIS”) in U.S. Department of Commerce has added 34 more companies to its Entity List in its continued expansion of U.S. export controls to address human rights in the Xinjiang Uyghur...more
7/21/2021
/ Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) ,
China ,
Customs and Border Protection ,
Entity List ,
Export Administration Regulations (EAR) ,
Export Controls ,
Forced Labor ,
General Licenses ,
Human Rights ,
Iran ,
Military End Use ,
National Security ,
Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) ,
Popular ,
Russia ,
SDN List ,
Tariff Act of 1930 ,
U.S. Commerce Department ,
Withhold Release Orders (WROs)
The Biden Administration last week substantially modified restrictions on U.S. person investments in certain Chinese companies, focusing those new restrictions particularly on entities with ties to the Chinese defense or...more
6/11/2021
/ Biden Administration ,
China ,
Department of Defense (DOD) ,
Executive Orders ,
Military End Use ,
NDAA ,
Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) ,
Publicly-Traded Companies ,
SDN List ,
Surveillance ,
Technology Sector ,
Trump Administration
Effective June 1, 2021, the U.S. Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (“OFAC”) published new Burmese Sanctions Regulations (“BSR”) that implement President Biden’s February 10, 2021, Executive Order...more
6/7/2021
/ Biden Administration ,
Blocked Person ,
Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) ,
Burma ,
Economic Sanctions ,
Executive Orders ,
Export Administration Regulations (EAR) ,
Export Controls ,
Exports ,
George W Bush ,
ITAR ,
Myanmar ,
Obama Administration ,
Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) ,
President Clinton
On April 8, the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security (“BIS”) added seven Chinese supercomputer firms and organizations to its Entity List, the agency’s principal export sanctions list. BIS alleges...more
4/26/2021
/ Biden Administration ,
Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) ,
China ,
Customs and Border Protection ,
Entity List ,
Export Administration Regulations (EAR) ,
Exports ,
Forced Labor ,
Huawei ,
Human Rights ,
Imports ,
National Security ,
Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) ,
Supply Chain ,
Technology Sector ,
U.S. Commerce Department ,
ZTE
The U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia recently ruled that certain securities trading restrictions will be prevented from going into effect with respect to Xiaomi Corporation (“Xiaomi”) under Section 1237 of the...more
On January 19, 2021, one day before the transition to the new Biden Administration, the U.S. Department of Commerce published its interim final regulations (“Regulations”) that will allow the United States to review, block,...more
3/26/2021
/ Biden Administration ,
CFIUS ,
China ,
Electronic Communications ,
Foreign Investment ,
Information Technology ,
Interim Final Rules (IFR) ,
Licensing Rules ,
Prohibited Transactions ,
Technology ,
U.S. Commerce Department
The U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia last week ruled that certain securities trading restrictions will be prevented from going into effect with respect to Xiaomi Corporation (“Xiaomi”) under Section 1237 of...more
On January 13, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (“CBP”) issued a new Withhold Release Order (“WRO”) under Section 307 of the Tariff Act of 1930 on all cotton products and tomato products from the entire Xinjiang region of...more
On January 11, Secretary of State Michael Pompeo announced the Trump Administration in its final week in office is returning Cuba to the official State Department list of state sponsors of terrorism. Cuba will thus re-join...more
1/15/2021
/ Biden Administration ,
Cuba ,
Cuban Assets Control Regulations (CACR) ,
Export Administration Regulations (EAR) ,
Foreign Policy ,
Humanitarian Assistance ,
ITAR ,
NGOs ,
Obama Administration ,
Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) ,
State Sponsors of Terrorism ,
Trump Administration ,
TSRA ,
United Nations
Rounding out an already-intense 2020, the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security (“BIS”) issued three notices in December that expanded export sanctions and restrictions against Chinese, Russian, and...more
1/14/2021
/ Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) ,
China ,
Commerce Control List ,
Economic Sanctions ,
Export Administration Regulations (EAR) ,
Export Controls ,
Exports ,
Hong Kong ,
Licensing Rules ,
Military End Use ,
Popular ,
Russia ,
U.S. Commerce Department ,
Venezuela
With only two weeks left in its term in office, the Trump Administration issued yet another 11th hour Executive Order (“EO”) on January 5 that purports to create a new legal framework to ban transactions with certain Chinese...more
On December 2, 2020, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (“CBP”) issued a Withhold Release Order (“WRO”) against cotton products made by the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps (“XPCC”) or any of its affiliates...more
On November 12, 2020, President Trump issued Executive Order 139591 (“the Order”) that will shortly bar any U.S. person from “any transaction in publicly traded securities, or any securities that are derivative of, or are...more
11/20/2020
/ China ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Defense Sector ,
Department of Defense (DOD) ,
Divestment ,
Entity List ,
Executive Orders ,
Foreign Investment ,
International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) ,
National Security ,
NDAA ,
Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) ,
Publicly-Traded Companies ,
Trump Administration ,
US Trade Policies
On September 14, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (“CBP”) expanded a ban on certain imports from the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (“Xinjiang”) in the People’s Republic of China (“PRC”) while saying that it was still...more
On August 16, 2020, the United States re-imposed Section 232 tariffs on Canadian-origin primary aluminum imports, adding another twist to the long-standing trade dispute with Canada over its aluminum exports to the United...more
Some U.S. importers may be able to defer payment of certain U.S. import tariffs by 90 days under a temporary final rule (“Tariff Deferral Rule”) published on April 22 by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (“CBP”) and the U.S....more
An importer recently agreed to pay $5.2 million to settle a False Claims Act (“FCA”) case alleging evasion of antidumping duties (“AD”) on wooden bedroom furniture from China. The importer, Blue Furniture Solutions, LLC (now...more
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (“FEMA”) has banned the export from the United States of certain masks, respirators and respirator parts, and medical gloves used as personal protective equipment (“PPE”) through a new...more
After months of anticipation, President Donald Trump signed an interim “Phase One” trade agreement (“the Agreement”) with Chinese Vice Premier Liu He at the White House on January 15, 2020. Under the Agreement reached after...more
1/23/2020
/ Agricultural Sector ,
China ,
Currency Manipulation ,
Dispute Resolution ,
Energy Sector ,
Exchange Rates ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Intellectual Property Protection ,
Manufacturers ,
Section 301 ,
Tariffs ,
Trade Agreements ,
Trade Negotiations ,
Trump Administration ,
USTR ,
WTO