Earlier this month, President Trump issued a letter to Congress expressing the administration’s intent to revoke Mauritania’s beneficiary status for a trade preference program established under the African Growth and Opportunity Act (“AGOA”), due to Mauritania’s failure to make sufficient progress in protecting internationally recognized workers’ rights. AGOA, first enacted in 2000 and currently in […]
Authors: Laura Farhang and Julia Ellings. The three-day hearings on proposed Section 301 tariffs on Chinese-origin goods have drawn to a close, and the witness testimony presented to the 301 Committee has provided a useful perspective on the potential benefits—and costs—such tariffs could pose to U.S. businesses and consumers. The hearings followed the Office […]
Authors: Kevin O’Connor and Andrew Kentz. President Trump announced this week that Jeffrey Gerrish would serve as the acting President of the U.S. Export-Import Bank (“EXIM”). Mr. Gerrish was confirmed by the Senate on March 5, 2018 as Deputy United States Trade Representative for Asia, Europe, the Middle East, and Industrial Competitiveness, and he […]
Participants in the Kuwait International Conference for Reconstruction of Iraq (February 12-14, 2018) pledged approximately $30 billion out of the $88 billion the government of Iraq (GoI) hoped to secure.1 Nonetheless, the conference reflected a conceptual shift by both the GoI and international actors. Namely, the private sector is expected to play a major role […]
As U.S. Customs and Border Protection (“CBP”) endeavors to improve enforcement of U.S. trade laws, the option of imposing a single entry bond (“SEB”) requirement on certain types of shipments (or with respect to certain importers) has become much more important. CBP’s enforcement initiatives are, by necessity, largely retrospective in nature. When the agency suspects […]