News Articles

industry in covid 19

Industry in the Midst of COVID-19

The U.S. aerospace and defense industry is feeling the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic as individuals and companies are trying to adjust to coronavirus recommendations. While U.S. companies remain operational, many have experienced supply chain disruptions leading to concerns that contractual requirements will not be met.

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couriers brokers report importers

Executive Order Places Reporting Burden on Express Couriers and Customs Brokers to Report Importers

On Friday, January 31, 2020, President Trump issued an executive order reiterating the policy of the United States regarding persons who facilitate imports of merchandise in direct violation of Federal laws and calling for the Secretary of Homeland Security to issue a notice of proposed rule-making to establish criteria an importer must meet before obtaining an importer of record (IOR) number.

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reigncore

REIGNCORE: The USMCA has been Ratified!

One of the many improvements from NAFTA in the newly-ratified United States Mexico Canada Agreement (“USMCA”), is the added ability of your business to directly engage in an ongoing dialogue with a permanently established USMCA committee, whose express purpose is to work with businesses in order to clarify terms of control of the USMCA as well as improve the implementation of this brand new tripartite trade agreement.

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update chinese trade war

Updates with Chinese Trade War

President Trump signed the Phase 1 Agreement with China on January 15, 2020. As part of the agreement, China has pledged to purchase $200 billion worth of goods and services over the next two years – this would be a 50% increase from the current levels. The $200 billion worth of goods and services is broken down into four main categories over 2020 and 2021…

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free trade africa

Ambitious Free Trade in 2020 and the African Continent

The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) is a free trade area, outlined in the African Continental Free Trade Agreement among 54 of the 55 African Union nations. The free-trade area is the largest in the world in terms of participating countries since the formation of the World Trade Organization. Nigeria and Benin were the hold outs until July of 2019.

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classification

Classification: A Necessary Evil or Helpful Tool?

Determining the correct classification of goods is arguably paramount to any good trade compliance program. However, many companies misclassify their goods at an astonishing rate. While this may be good for business for trade compliance consultants like myself, it isn’t good when it comes time for our client’s Customs audits.

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vsd policies privacy

Updated VSD Policies: How Could this Affect you?

While the United States Trade Representative is currently inundated with Section 301 exclusion requests, the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) National Security Division’s (NSD) recent update could be encouraging an influx of voluntary self-disclosures (VSDs) to the U.S. export agencies and the DOJ in the near future.

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japan us free trade

Japan-US Free Trade Agreement – Not All it Appears to Be

On Jan. 1, 2020 the Japan-United States Free Trade Agreement went into effect. The agreement provides duty-free, or reduced duty treatment, for certain Japanese imports into the U.S. and certain U.S. exports to Japan. The implementation details were printed in the Federal Register on Dec. 30, 2019 (84 FR 72187).

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emerging technologies

Emerging Technologies Rule-making is Upon Us!

On January 6, 2020, BIS published an interim final rule adding “software specially designed to automate the analysis of geospatial imagery” to the EAR and requiring a license to export and reexport such items to all countries, with the exception of Canada. This rule classifies “software specially designed to automate the analysis of geospatial imagery”

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incoterms 2020

Incoterms 2020 – What to Expect

Incoterms are rules issued by the International Chamber of Commerce that facilitate global trade and are updated every ten years or so in an effort to keep up with the changes that take place in international trade. The current version is Incoterms 2010, but a new version, Incoterms 2020, is expected to be released in the last quarter of 2019 and will take effect on January 1, 2020.

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china immex

China Plus One and the IMMEX

Having heard the proverbial expression of “Not putting all of one’s eggs in one basket” since I was about 7 years old, I can’t imagine laying out a marketing strategy and business expansion plan in this day and age without looking at all options, especially for the manufacturing location.

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chinese retaliatory tariffs

Chinese Retaliatory Tariffs and List 4

In light of President Trump’s decision to increase tariffs on the $200 billion list of Chinese imports, China has decided to raise tariffs on $60 billion worth of U.S. goods. These retaliatory tariffs affect approximately 5,000 products and the total duty ranges from 20-25% depending on the commodity.

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usmca update

USMCA Update – Just when we thought we had a deal…

Many are wondering whether the updated NAFTA is going to make it. By make it, of course, we mean ratification of the agreement so that it may replace NAFTA. More and more, it seems that the “United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement” is a misnomer because the only agreement we are seeing is that there are still kinks to work out.

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huawei

Which Way with Huawei?

The Bureau of Industry & Security (BIS) of the Department of Commerce announced that it was adding Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. to the Entity List on May 16, 2019. Not just this Huawei company in China, but also 68 non-US affiliates of Huawei located in 26 countries.

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special 301 duties aircraft

Special 301 Duties on Aircraft – Are They Just Winging It?

In a Federal Register Notice dated April 12, 2019, the Office of the US Trade Representative (USTR) announced the initiation of an investigation into European Union (EU) subsidies of large aircraft. The notice also contained a list of European origin aircraft and other products targeted for potential additional duties.

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false claims act

Department of Justice Issues: Guidance on False Claims Act

On May 6, 2019, the Department of Justice (DOJ) issued guidance explaining how the DOJ awards credit to defendants who cooperate during a False Claims Act investigation. The policy states that the DOJ will consider (1) voluntary disclosure of wrongdoing, (2) cooperation in an ongoing investigation, and (3) taking remedial measures in response to the violation.

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Customs Regulations

Customs Brokers: Giving Credit to Accreditors

U.S. Customs & Border Protection (CBP) published the Final Rule on continuing education for individual customs broker license holders in the Federal Register on June 23, 2023. This Final Rule made several changes to Part 111 of the Customs Regulations and imposed a continuing education requirement on individual license holders.

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Section 301 Exclusions

Another China Competition Bill: The Future of Section 301 Exclusions

The Trade Act of 1974 grants the President broad powers to manage trade relationships with foreign countries. Section 301 of the act allows the President, acting through the United States Trade Representative (“USTR”), to impose retaliatory tariffs on imports from a country if the USTR determines that country’s economic conduct “is unreasonable or discriminatory and burdens or restricts United States commerce.”

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