In June 2018, the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) announced additional tariffs on products imported from China. The additional tariffs are part of the U.S.’ response to China’s unfair trade practices related to “the forced transfer of American technology and intellectual property” pursuant to Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974. To date, three lists of tariffs against China have been posted. On August 13, 2019, the USTR released two additional…

Podcast – Let’s Talk FCA Customs Fraud In this episode, hosts Mana Lombardo and Jason Crawford speak with Crowell & Moring attorneys Frances Hadfield and Allegra Flamm about the steady rise in the number of False Claims Act investigations and lawsuits alleging that U.S. importers have concealed obligations to pay duties to U.S. Customs and Border Protection. “Let’s Talk FCA” is Crowell & Moring’s podcast covering the latest developments with the False Claims Act. Link …

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,…

On August 13, 2019, the FAR Council will publish in the Federal Register an interim rule, FAR Subpart 4.21, effective immediately, which implements a portion of section 889 of the FY 2019 National Defense Authorization Act, specifically, the ban on government procurement of any equipment, system or service that uses covered telecommunications equipment or services from certain Chinese companies. The interim rule defines covered telecommunications equipment and services to include any telecommunications equipment or…

Over the course of the last week, the United States has escalated its sanctions programs targeting Russia and Venezuela. It began by implementing the long-delayed second round of sanctions on Russia mandated by the Chemical and Biological Weapons Act of 1991 (CBW Act) on Saturday, August 3, 2019. While the CBW sanctions will have a limited impact on most companies, the same cannot be said of the issuance of Executive Order 13884 (“E.O. 13884”) on…

In ruling NY N305266, Customs and Border Protection (CBP) determined the classification of Ridge® wallet credit card/money holders. The holders are imported and sold in five styles. Each wallet features two anodized aluminum inner plates, an aluminum screwdriver with a base metal working edge, and four extra steel screws. The holders will have two outer plates comprised of aluminum, titanium or graphite, and a steel money clip or an elastic and plastic cash strap. The wallets are…

The Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) released three distinct batches of product exclusion requests from its Section 301 tariffs during July and early-August. On July 9, USTR published their sixth batch of List 1 ($34 billion trade action) exclusions in the Federal Register. The exclusions applied to 110 specific product descriptions and covered 362 separate exclusion requests. Pumps and machine parts represented a large portion of the exclusions.   On July 31,…