President Donald Trump's decision to eliminate the duty-free de minimis threshold for goods from China, issued as part of his 10% tariff hike on Chinese products, likely will face legal challenges due to the economic importance of the de minimis rule, customs attorney Lawrence Friedman told us. However, many questions remain on the precise scope of any resulting change, along with the legal theory underpinning it.
Expect upheaval as companies that previously imported goods from China under the de minimis exemption face President Donald Trump's ban via executive order on using de minimis for those goods, members of the trade community told International Trade Today.
Peter Navarro, a trade adviser to President Donald Trump who was known as a China hawk when he served in the president's first administration, said the Commerce Department will be conducting Section 232 investigations on how the steel and aluminum actions should be adjusted, and how imports of critical minerals and essential medicines "are harming [our] ability to produce" those goods.
International trade and customs attorney Jon Cowley has rejoined Baker McKenzie as a partner after working as principal counsel for trade and export at Apple, the firm announced. Cowley worked at Baker McKenzie during 2017-21 as a partner in the Hong Kong and Chicago offices. Before that, he was assistant general counsel for customs and international trade at Nike.
Two former senior advisers from the Commerce Department, Sahar Hafeez and Julian Beach, have joined Pillsbury Winthrop in the regulatory business unit and international trade practice, the firm announced. Hafeez rejoins the firm as senior counsel after serving in various roles at Commerce and the White House, most recently as senior adviser to the assistant secretary for industry and analysis at Commerce. Beach joins the firm as special counsel, most recently working as senior adviser and chief-of-staff for enforcement and compliance at Commerce.
The International Trade Commission published notices in the Feb. 3 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 International Trade Commission is issuing a limited exclusion order banning imports of vaporizer devices and their cartridges (ITC Inv. No. 337-TA-1368) from the U.S. company NJOY and its affiliates, it said in a notice to be published Feb. 4. Additionally, the ITC issued cease and desist orders against the respondents but imposed no bond for covered articles imported or sold during the period of presidential review. The order concludes a Section 337 investigation the ITC launched in August 2023, based on allegations by Juul that NJOY and its affiliates are importing vaping devices and components that infringe four patents owned by Juul.
The International Trade Commission is beginning a Section 337 investigation on shapewear garments (ITC Inv. No. 337-TA-1436) after receiving allegations filed by Spanx that U.S. companies Honeylove Sculptwear, Daerwene and Dolce Vita Intimates and three Chinese companies are importing products that infringe its patents, the agency said in a Jan. 31 news release.
The Commerce Department published notices in the Federal Register Feb. 3 on the following antidumping and countervailing duty (AD/CVD) proceedings (any notices that announce changes to AD/CVD rates, scope, affected firms or effective dates will be detailed in another ITT article):
The Commerce Department announced the opportunity to request administrative reviews by Feb. 28 for producers and exporters subject to 45 antidumping duty orders and 17 countervailing duty orders with anniversary dates in February.