In response to Congressional concerns, the U.S. Government Accountability Office (“GAO”) has agreed to review the process by which the U.S. Department of Commerce (“Commerce”) has been processing steel and aluminum tariff exclusion requests. On March 8, 2018, President Trump imposed a 25 percent tariff on steel imports and a 10 percent tariff on aluminum
Last Friday, the U.S. International Trade Commission (“ITC”) formally launched an investigation into the economic benefits of the new U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (“USMCA”) that is to replace NAFTA.
Under the Trade Promotion Authority (“TPA”) law, known as the Bipartisan Congressional Trade Priorities and Accountability Act of 2015, the ITC must prepare a report that assesses the likely impact of the Agreement on the U.S. economy as a whole and on specific industry sectors, as well as the interests of U.S. consumers. This report, which will be made public, is due to the President and Congress no more than 105 days after the President signs the agreement. The TPA requires the President to wait 90 days from the date of the notification before signing the USMCA. President Trump notified Congress of his intent to enter into the new trade agreement on August 31, 2018. Therefore, the earliest the President may sign the agreement is November 30, 2018.
Congress is expected to wait until the ITC report is issued before voting on the new agreement. In fact, Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell recently told Bloomberg in an interview that the vote on USMCA will be a “next-year issue.”
If Congress does not pass the TPA, the President has threatened to withdraw from NAFTA.
Continue Reading ITC Initiates Investigation of the Likely Impact of USMCA
On October 18, 2017, the U.S. Department of Commerce published its preliminary determination that two Indian bar producers, Viraj Profiles Ltd. (“Viraj”) and the Venus Group (Venus Wire Industries Pvt. Ltd. and its affiliates Hindustan Inox Ltd., Precision Metals and Sieve Manufacturers (India) Pvt. Ltd.), have resumed dumping stainless steel bar into the U.S. market and that both companies should be reinstated back under the existing antidumping duty order on stainless steel bar from India.
Continue Reading India Stainless Steel Bar: Commerce Reinstates Viraj and Venus Back Under Antidumping Duty Order
On September 11, 2017, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (“Federal Circuit”) issued a judgment without opinion affirming the International Trade Commission’s (“ITC”) decision in Viraj Profiles Limited v. ITC (2016-2482) that resulted in a limited exclusion order against Indian stainless steel producer Viraj Profiles Limited (“Viraj”). The exclusion order prohibits the importation into the United States of all stainless steel products manufactured by or on behalf of Viraj. The order has been in effect since July 2016 and will remain in place for a period of 16.7 years.
Continue Reading Federal Circuit Affirms 16-Year Import Ban Against Indian Stainless Steel Producer Viraj Profiles
The European Union is threatening to impose retaliatory measures on several key export products, including whiskey, orange juice, and dairy products, if President Trump follows through with plans to limit steel imports based on national security concerns.
At a G20 summit in Hamburg on July 7, 2017, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said that the EU is prepared to “react with counter-measures” within “days” if President Trump imposes steel tariffs. According to the Financial Times, because U.S. does not export much steel to Europe, EU officials are targeting U.S. agriculture products and other “politically sensitive” products with bourbon whiskey, orange juice and dairy at the top of the list.
Continue Reading EU Considering Retaliatory Measures on U.S. Exports of Whiskey, Juice, and Dairy Products Over Steel
