International Trade

May 17, 2019
Gov't Must Provide Info In Challenge To 2-For-1 Rule Order

The D.C. federal judge presiding over public interest groups' challenge to President Donald Trump's executive order requiring that for every new regulation, two rules must be eliminated, said Friday that federal agencies must do a better job complying with discovery.
May 17, 2019
Trade Org Backs Steel Tariff Challenge At High Court

Advocacy organization the National Foreign Trade Council urged the U.S. Supreme Court on Friday to review President Donald Trump’s use of a Cold War-era law to set tariffs on steel and aluminum, saying the move was unconstitutional and has severely damaged the U.S. economy.
May 17, 2019
Trump Cuts National Security-Driven Tariff On Turkish Steel

President Donald Trump lowered tariffs on Turkish steel to their original 25% rate late Thursday, citing the reduction in steel imports from Ankara over the past year.
May 17, 2019
EU Gets New Sanction Powers To Tackle Cyberattacks

Individuals and businesses that orchestrate or are involved in cyberattacks, including by providing financial support to the main plotters, will be hit with EU-wide sanctions such as travel bans or asset freezes under a new enforcement regime launched by the European Council on Friday.
May 17, 2019
Trump Agrees To Nix Metal Duties On NAFTA Partners

President Donald Trump struck a deal to lift the national security-based steel and aluminum tariffs on Canada and Mexico Friday, removing a major hurdle to passing the renegotiated North American Free Trade Agreement through Congress.
May 17, 2019
White House Delays Car Tariffs With Call For Negotiations

President Donald Trump confirmed on Friday that his administration considers imports of cars, trucks and auto parts a threat to national security, but declined to set tariffs on the goods for now, opening a six-month window to negotiate a compromise with major suppliers.
May 16, 2019
Trump's Telecom Salvos Plunge China Talks Into The Unknown

The prospects for a sweeping U.S.-China trade deal were looking dim even before President Donald Trump dealt a pair of blows to Beijing's mighty telecom sector on Wednesday, a move that injected even more uncertainty into the already-fraught negotiations.
May 16, 2019
EU Says US Fears Over Defense Co-Op Pact Are Overblown

European Union leaders have pushed back against U.S. concerns over a fledgling EU defense cooperation deal, including concerns about American defense contractors potentially losing access to EU defense markets that have drawn threats of retaliation from the U.S.
May 16, 2019
DOJ Looking To Avoid 5th Amendment Fracas: Fraud Chief

The acting chief of the Department of Justice's Fraud Section said on Thursday that prosecutors are trying to avoid a repeat of a recent case in which the government effectively jeopardized the constitutionality of a case against a Deutsche Bank trader by relying too heavily on the bank's lawyers at Paul Weiss.
May 16, 2019
Fed. Circ. Says Solar Importer Gets Tariffs, But Also A Refund

A California solar company will face tariffs on its Chinese solar module imports, but not on those that arrived before the U.S. Department of Commerce started its probe into whether they fall under the scope of those duty orders, a split Federal Circuit panel found on Thursday.
May 16, 2019
Network Security 'Emergency' Order Clouds Telecom Plans

A new executive order from the Trump administration intended to shore up security vulnerabilities in communications networks writes a blank check to the U.S. Department of Commerce that can be used to target a host of technologies, countries and carriers, and its broad language has left many in industry unclear on how it will affect their business.
May 16, 2019
'Wealth Factor' Costs $2B Fraud Suspect Yet Another Bail Bid

Two days after expressing concerns about the "wealth factor" involved, the Second Circuit on Thursday rejected a Lebanese salesman and accused fraudster's emergency bid to be released on $20 million bond.
May 16, 2019
FERC Backs Energy Storage Rule Despite State Concerns

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission on Thursday largely upheld its landmark rule making a place for energy storage in wholesale electricity markets despite Republican Commissioner Bernard McNamee’s contention that the agency was unlawfully intruding on state authority under the Federal Power Act.
May 16, 2019
Commerce Finalizes Hefty Duties On Chinese Quartz Imports

The U.S. Department of Commerce on Wednesday unveiled final, triple-digit duties on imports of Chinese quartz used in countertops and other household surfacing, months after the agency first proposed duties as high as 340% on the products.
May 16, 2019
CIT Partly Affirms Commerce's Chinese Tire Duty Review

The U.S. Court of International Trade on Wednesday partly affirmed the methodology used by the U.S. Department of Commerce to calculate tariffs on off-road tires from China, but told the department to take another look at some aspects of its subsidy calculation.
May 15, 2019
McGinnis Lochridge Nabs Int'l Law Pro From Picard Kentz

Texas-based McGinnis Lochridge has added an attorney from Washington, D.C., boutique Picard Kentz & Rowe LLP with experience guiding private and government clients through everything from trade issues to arbitration proceedings.
May 15, 2019
Foreign Investment Protection Leads To Better Loans: Study

New research by the State University of New York at Buffalo found that investors who put their money into developing countries that offer investor-state dispute resolution are more likely to secure funding on favorable terms, making them more drawn to countries that offer investment protection.
May 15, 2019
Commerce Calls For Duties On French Chemical Imports

The U.S. Department of Commerce has placed an early round of duties on imports of a chemical compound from France after finding that the merchandise was unfairly priced, but declined to make the same finding for Austrian imports.
May 15, 2019
Trump Blacklists Huawei Amid Telecom Security Clampdown

The Trump administration continued its crackdown on China's telecommunications sector Wednesday by placing Huawei on a blacklist that will make it more difficult for U.S. companies to do business with the industry giant.
May 15, 2019
TracFone Slams Bid To Nix Phone-Smuggling Suit

Wireless service provider TracFone urged a Florida federal judge on Tuesday not to let SAS Solutions Inc. and various individuals escape its suit accusing the company and two Texas-based affiliates of running a scheme to purchase its phones in bulk and sell them overseas at higher prices.

Editor's Picks

Sens. Float Bill To Tighten Scrutiny Of China's ZTE

A bipartisan group of senators announced Tuesday they had introduced a bill aimed at ensuring Chinese telecommunications giant ZTE Corp. lives up to conditions the Trump administration imposed last year when undoing the company's blacklisting from U.S. markets.

Expert Analysis

Q&A

A Chat With Gilead Sciences Legal Ops Leader Gary Tully

In this monthly series, legal recruiting experts from Major Lindsey & Africa interview legal industry leaders about the increasingly competitive business environment. Here, Rod Osborne talks with Gary Tully, head of legal operations at Gilead Sciences.
Opinion

Oil Cartel Bill's Passage Is Long Overdue

The No Oil Producing and Exporting Cartels Act has been reintroduced in Congress, and the oil market conditions that spurred this needed legislation in 2000 are just as widespread today — but so are the inaccurate criticisms of this bill, says attorney Seth Bloom, who drafted the original version of NOPEC.
Series

Why I Became A Lawyer: Completing The Journey Home

My mother's connection to her Native American heritage had a major influence on my career — my decision to enter the legal profession was driven by the desire to return to my tribal community and help it in any way I could, says Jason Hauter of Akin Gump.
Gov't Contractors Fighting Suspensions Face Uphill Battle

The recent dismissal of JBL System Solutions v. Williams in the Eastern District of Virginia highlights the inherent problems in challenging an agency decision and has potentially sweeping implications for government contractors subject to negative responsibility determinations, say Dismas Locaria and Emily Unnasch at Venable.
What Fed. Circ. False Ad Ruling Means For Section 337 Claims

Though the Federal Circuit's decision in Amarin v. U.S. International Trade Commission mandates careful drafting of Food, Drug and Cosmetics Act-related Section 337 claims under the Tariff Act, it arguably leaves the door open for creative litigants to raise claims for less common "unfair acts," say attorneys at Ropes & Gray.
Finding Allies In The Fight Against Counterfeits

In the world of anti-counterfeiting and brand protection work, collaboration with competitors, customers and online marketplaces can be a smart way to stretch constrained budgets, say Lori Meddings and Li Zhu of Quarles & Brady.
Series

Judging A Book: Wood Reviews 'The Making Of A Justice'

Retired U.S. Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens' new book, "The Making of a Justice," is required reading for anyone interested in 20th and 21st century America, says Seventh Circuit Chief Judge Diane Wood.
Foreign Banks Should Remain Wary Of US Sanctions Laws

While major enforcement actions against foreign banks for U.S. sanctions violations have slowed down in the past few years, recent settlements against three foreign banks show that federal and state authorities are still enforcing sanctions laws — and the pace of enforcement will likely increase, say Andrew Zimmitti and Richard Hartunian of Manatt.
Getting Out Of Legal Project Management Debt

If a client does not demand the application of project management techniques at the start of a matter, or a law firm does not routinely apply them, it is highly likely that additional, avoidable work — legal project management debt — will materialize throughout the matter, says Anthony Widdop of Shearman & Sterling.
Opinion

NAFTA Update A Step Backward For US Investors

Under the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement, U.S. investors would lose the robust international law protections and dispute resolution mechanisms that they have relied on for years in the North American Free Trade Agreement, say Ian Laird and Melissa Morris of Crowell & Moring.