On August 13, the United States Trade Representative (USTR) released two additional lists of products that will be subject to a 10 percent tariff on approximately $300 billion worth of imported Chinese goods, pursuant to Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974. The first set of tariffs will go into effect on September 1, 2019 as announced by the president on August 1. Some products have been removed from the tariff list based on health,…

Views and Input Sought From Stakeholders by May 31, 2019. The European Union (EU) has published its preliminary list of U.S. goods that will be targeted for retaliatory tariffs over subsidies to Boeing. The preliminary list is focused on farm products. Some of the products include: Fish, cheese, agricultural goods such as fruits and vegetables, chocolate, wine, spirit alcohols, lobster, handbags/wallets, tractors, motorcycles/motorcycle parts, helicopters, planes, video game consoles, exercise machines, tobacco, etc. The World…

The UK could receive an extension to the withdrawal period by 3 months or up to 2021 under Article 50 of the Treaty on European Union. The House of the Commons will have a “meaningful vote” on Theresa May’s revised Brexit deal no later than March 12th, a yes-or-no vote to approve the PM’s plan.   If it fails, then the UK will allow a vote on whether to have a no-deal Brexit and leave…

On February 14, 2019, the House of Commons rejected Prime Minister Theresa May’s motion on her approach to Brexit by a majority vote of 303 to 258. While the defeat will have no impact on the March 29th deadline by which time there either needs to be agreement with the EU on the terms for withdrawal or the UK will crash out of the EU with no deal, the loss will make it more difficult…

The European Commission voted to adopt definitive measures on imported steel products from all non-European Economic Area (EEA) countries following the safeguard proceeding launched in March 2018. However, certain countries in which the Commission has signed an Economic Partnership Agreement will be exempted from the scope of the measures. This list includes countries such as Botswana, Cameroon, Fiji, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Lesotho, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, and Swaziland. The measures will consist of a country-specific…

Last updated on September 13, 2019: Added a delay in the U.S. implementation of a 5% increase on Lists 1-3 tariffs from October 1 to October 15, 2019. U.S. Trade Actions Action Covered Products Rate Increase Effective Date Section 232 Steel and Aluminum Steel – 25% Aluminum – 10% 6/1/2018 Status: Steel – all countries of origin except Canada (exempted), Mexico (exempted), South Korea, Brazil, and Argentina (agreed to quotas); and Australia (exempted). Aluminum –…

The USTR announced on August 3rd that it will review Turkey’s eligibility for the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) program that grants duty-free access to the U.S. market. GSP is a U.S. trade program designed to promote economic growth in the developing world by providing preferential duty-free entry for up to 4,800 products from 129 designated beneficiary countries and territories. Concern over Turkey’s “compliance with the GSP market access criterion,” led the USTR to initiate…