The International Trade Commission published notices in the Feb. 24 Federal Register on the following antidumping and countervailing duty (AD/CVD) injury, Section 337 patent or other trade proceedings (any notices that warrant a more detailed summary will be in another ITT article):
The former chief counsel for trade enforcement strategy at the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, who led the four-year review of Section 301 tariffs and the launch of a Section 301 investigation on mature chips, has joined DLA Piper as a partner in the national security and global trade practice. Brian Janovitz worked at USTR for more than 10 years, and also was involved in litigation, such as the biotech corn dispute, which the U.S. won.
The International Trade Commission seeks comments by March 4 on a Section 337 complaint alleging that imports of semiconductor devices infringe patents held by Longitude Licensing and Marlin Semiconductor Limited, it said in a notice to be published Feb.24. According to the complaint, the complainants are seeking a limited exclusion order and cease and desist orders against Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, Apple, Broadcom, Lenovo, OnePlus, Motorola Mobile Communication Technology Ltd. and Qualcomm to bar from entry "certain foreign-fabricated semiconductor devices, products containing the same, and components thereof" that violate the complainant's patents. The categories of the articles involved are "non-x86 semiconductor devices, consisting of semiconductor wafers or semiconductor dies, manufactured using TSMC’s 7 nm and smaller process nodes outside of the United States."
President Donald Trump, in a meandering speech at an investors conference in Miami Feb. 19, said he'd be announcing "tariffs on cars and semiconductors and chips and pharmaceuticals, drugs, and pharmaceuticals, and lumber, probably, and some other things, over the next month, or sooner -- and it'll have a big impact in America."
Howard Lutnick is now the commerce secretary, after the Senate voted 51-45 to confirm him the evening of Feb. 18. All the Republicans present at the time of the vote endorsed Lutnick.
President Donald Trump said that he will "probably" say more about the scope of tariffs on cars "on April 2, but it'll be in the neighborhood of 25%," in response to a question at a press conference Feb. 18.
The fact that the White House reciprocal tariff memo covers far more than tariffs gives the administration a great deal of leeway to impose tariffs on even trading partners like Canada, Mexico and South Korea that have virtually no tariffs on U.S. exports.
Importers appear to be clamoring for more clarity over how CBP could potentially process imports of steel and aluminum derivatives in response to President Donald Trump’s executive orders earlier this week calling for 25% tariffs on steel and aluminum (see 2502110004).
The reciprocal tariffs that the U.S. intends to levy on imports -- which could be announced as soon as April 2 -- may not be a one-for-one match of the tariff rate of another country for that product. Rather, they could take into account wage suppression, exchange rate management, "mercantilist policies," non-tariff barriers, value-added tax and extraterritorial taxes.
Japan has asked the Trump administration to exempt it from new 25% tariffs on steel and aluminum imports, Japanese Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Yoji Muto said during a Feb. 12 press conference.