PROTECTIONISM

U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai laid out the United States’ new approach to the Sino-U.S. trade relationship in a 4 October speech before a leading Washington, D.C. think tank. Tai gave no indication that the existing Section 301 tariffs will be lifted and in fact suggested that more tariffs could be imposed if mainland China does not take sufficient actions to address U.S. concerns. More

As the Biden administration comes under increasing pressure to reinstate Section 301 tariff exclusions and resume a process for granting additional exclusions, a government watchdog report says any such process needs to be more transparent than the one that resulted in the rejection of the vast majority of previous exclusion requests. More

The first two years of the Biden administration are likely to focus on domestic issues, specifically Covid-19, jobs and the economy. The new administration will also have to deal with various outstanding trade issues from the Trump presidency, including the Section 301 tariffs on a broad range of products from mainland China, as well as the Section 232 tariffs on steel and aluminium from most foreign suppliers. More

The DOC has issued a new interim final rule aimed at securing the U.S. information and communications technology and services supply chain. Slated to enter into force on 22 March, the rule creates the processes and procedures that the U.S. Secretary of Commerce will use to identify, assess and address certain transactions between U.S. and foreign persons that (i) involve ICTS designed, developed, manufactured or supplied by persons owned by, controlled by More