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…

On August 31, after a week of talks, Canada and the United States failed to reach agreement on a new NAFTA that aligns with the bilateral U.S.-Mexico agreement reached on August 27. Among the key outstanding issues is the U.S. objective of opening up Canada’s dairy market and the Canadian objective of maintaining Chapter 19 of the original NAFTA’s dispute settlement for antidumping and countervailing duty cases. Canada will resume negotiations with the U.S. on September…

On August 27, the U.S. and Mexico announced a “preliminary agreement in principle” on the renegotiation of NAFTA—a deal reached without Canada, which sat out the latest bilateral talks. Canada’s Foreign Minister, Chrystia Freeland, has joined negotiations this week in hopes of reaching a trilateral agreement by Friday, August 31. Despite the significant publicity around this announcement, the ultimate fate of NAFTA still remains uncertain, given that Canada was not part of the bilateral deal…

On June 29, 2018, Canada released its retaliatory tariff list in response to the U.S. Section 232 tariffs on imports of certain steel and aluminum products from Canada at the rates of 25% and 10%, respectively. The list is broken out into three tables. Items in Table 1 will be subject to a 25 per cent surtax, while items in Tables 2 and 3 will be subject to a 10 per cent surtax. Canada released an…

On May 23, 2018, the Secretary of Commerce initiated an investigation to determine the effects on the national security of imports of automobiles, including cars, SUVs, vans and light trucks, and automotive parts. This investigation has been initiated under section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962, as amended. On May 30, 2018, the Department of Commerce (Commerce) published in the Federal Register details on the public hearing, scheduled for July 19-20, as well…

According to a May 23 U.S. Department of Commerce (Commerce) press release, “U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross initiated an investigation under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962, as amended. The investigation will determine whether imports of automobiles, including SUVs, vans and light trucks, and automotive parts into the United States threaten to impair the national security as defined in Section 232.” The results of the Section 232 national security investigations into…

On April 30th, the President issued two proclamations extending country exemptions for certain U.S. allies on the steel and aluminum tariffs pursuant to Section 232(b) of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962. The President extended temporary exemptions for Canada, Mexico, and the European Union, granted a permanent exemption on steel tariffs for South Korea, and is considering permanent exemptions for Australia, Argentina, and Brazil. Trump’s administration unveiled its decision to extend the country exemptions just…