Trade attorney and Steel Market Update contributor Lewis Leibowitz offers the following update on events in Washington: Does anyone else feel like riding a roller coaster for the next six months? We have been on one for about seven weeks now and there is no end in sight. The time has arrived to consider what […]
Trade attorney and Steel Market Update contributor Lewis Leibowitz offers the following update on events in Washington: As I write today, the politics of trade are becoming clearer. I’ve often been asked to predict where things are going and how politics will affect the markets. Here goes. This election year, trade is more controversial than […]
Trade attorney and Steel Market Update contributor Lewis Leibowitz offers the following update on events in Washington: As a participant of long standing in the saga of international trade cases, I can say that this week was particularly interesting. First, the U.S. International Trade Commission did something unusual—last Tuesday, it made a final negative determination […]
Trade attorney and Steel Market Update contributor Lewis Leibowitz offers the following update on events in Washington: First, I want to recap the World Trade Organization crisis. The Trump administration has put a big obstacle in the way of WTO dispute settlement by refusing to permit new members of the “supreme court” of the WTO […]
Trade attorney and Steel Market Update contributor Lewis Leibowitz offers the following update on events in Washington: I received a question recently about the significance of Section 321 of the Tariff Act of 1930. Section 321 exempts imports from duties if they have an entered value of less than $800 per entry and meet certain […]
Trade attorney and Steel Market Update contributor Lewis Leibowitz offers the following update on events in Washington: The Commerce Department has been active again on behalf of domestic petitioners seeking circumvention findings. On Monday, Commerce issued a preliminary finding of circumvention with respect to three countries (Costa Rica, Malaysia, and the United Arab Emirates). Two […]
Trade attorney and Steel Market Update contributor Lewis Leibowitz offers the following update on events in Washington: On Feb. 4, the Commerce Department published a new regulation expanding countervailing duty law. Commerce will now for the first time entertain claims by U.S. industry that government action to “undervalue” a currency in relation to the U.S. […]
Trade attorney and Steel Market Update contributor Lewis Leibowitz offers the following update on events in Washington: Friday’s vote in the Senate to end the impeachment trial of President Trump without calling witnesses or receiving additional evidence seals the fate of the impeachment effort. The Senate will hear closing arguments and debate the issues Monday […]
Trade attorney and Steel Market Update contributor Lewis Leibowitz offers the following update on events in Washington: The presidential proclamation announcing new tariffs on “derivative” steel and aluminum articles was published in the Jan. 29 Federal Register (85 Fed. Reg. 5281). There are two Annexes that detail the products covered by the new tariffs: 1. “Aluminum […]
Trade attorney and Steel Market Update contributor Lewis Leibowitz offers the following update on events in Washington: On Friday, President Trump issued another proclamation on steel and aluminum. This time, the proclamation imposes tariffs on selected “derivative” products made from steel and aluminum. I was reminded of the movie “The Monster that Devoured Cleveland,” which […]
Trade attorney and Steel Market Update contributor Lewis Leibowitz offers the following update on events in Washington: Challenges to the Section 232 steel tariffs are intensifying lately. The cases raise issues going to the heart of the Section 232 import restrictions. Here is a summary of the court cases to watch: AIIS—challenging the constitutionality of […]
Trade attorney and Steel Market Update contributor Lewis Leibowitz offers the following update on events in Washington: We are now in the third year of the steel tariffs. On Jan. 11, 2018, the Department of Commerce transmitted its report and recommendations to President Trump. The president was waiting for the document, which gave him power […]
Trade attorney and Steel Market Update contributor Lewis Leibowitz offers the following update on events in Washington: Happy New Year to all. The president has imposed a host of import restrictions and sanctions since 2017. The list is extensive and the statutes under which he claims to be acting can be bewildering: Section 232, Section […]
Trade attorney and Steel Market Update contributor Lewis Leibowitz offers the following update on events in Washington: The House of Representatives voted on Thursday to approve the USMCA agreement by a large bipartisan majority, 385-41. The vote sends the implementing legislation to the Senate, which is also expected to approve the agreement. It is one […]
Trade attorney and Steel Market Update contributor Lewis Leibowitz offers the following update on events in Washington: Last week was one of the most eventful for trade this year: USMCA Agreement Editor’s note: The House voted to pass the USMCA earlier today. The Senate is unlikely to vote on the measure before completion of the […]
Trade attorney and Steel Market Update contributor Lewis Leibowitz offers the following update on events in Washington: I have received questions from several people about the ins and outs of product exclusions. I thought I’d give a brief summary of the subject and the opportunities and the problems that may arise. Section 301 (China) Product […]
Trade attorney and Steel Market Update contributor Lewis Leibowitz offers the following update on events in Washington: As the Section 232 tariffs continue, their market effects continue to pile up. The tariffs cause effects on investment and employment, both for steel producers and their customers. Tariffs reduce imports of steel, for example, but they increase […]
Trade attorney and Steel Market Update contributor Lewis Leibowitz offers the following update on events in Washington: As the Section 232 tariffs continue, their market effects continue to pile up. The tariffs cause effects on investment and employment, both for steel producers and their customers. Tariffs reduce imports of steel, for example, but they increase […]
Trade attorney and Steel Market Update contributor Lewis Leibowitz offers the following update on events in Washington: The world has grown accustomed to the World Trade Organization. A world without a means to settle disputes through negotiations or, if agreement is impossible, binding dispute resolution, is a hallmark of the WTO system. From 1948 to […]
Trade attorney and Steel Market Update contributor Lewis Leibowitz offers the following update on events in Washington: The world has grown accustomed to the World Trade Organization. A world without a means to settle disputes through negotiations or, if agreement is impossible, binding dispute resolution, is a hallmark of the WTO system. From 1948 to […]
Trade attorney and Steel Market Update contributor Lewis Leibowitz offers the following update on events in Washington: Happy Thanksgiving! That most American of holidays gives us a chance to appreciate the blessings we have as Americans. Our tradition almost forces us to eat turkey as part of that ritual—along with a lot of other neat […]
Trade attorney and Steel Market Update contributor Lewis Leibowitz offers the following update on events in Washington: The China tariffs, the steel and aluminum tariffs, the safeguard tariffs on solar panels and washing machines all have a feature in common: some form of product exclusion. This means that imported products covered by these measures may be […]
Trade attorney and Steel Market Update contributor Lewis Leibowitz offers the following update on events in Washington: The presidential campaign heats up. The impeachment investigations continue. Polarization is in the air. Today, I note a trend that’s pertinent to all this—increasingly, pundits and commentators are discussing the futility of our current polarization. I recommend a […]
Trade attorney and Steel Market Update contributor Lewis Leibowitz offers the following update on events in Washington: New developments cascaded on us in the past week. I will focus, as is my habit, on those related to international trade and commerce. Trade-related developments called into question a number of initiatives in Congress and the administration. Impeachment looked […]
Trade attorney and Steel Market Update contributor Lewis Leibowitz offers the following update on events in Washington: Happy Bastille Day!! On Friday afternoon, which is traditionally the time to bury inconvenient news, the White House announced that President Trump had rejected the advice of the Secretary of Commerce to impose import restrictions on uranium trade. The […]
Trade attorney and Steel Market Update contributor Lewis Leibowitz offers the following update on events in Washington: Companies have filed thousands of requests seeking exclusions from the Trump administration’s Section 232 tariffs on steel imports, claiming the products they require are not available from domestic sources in the quantities or qualities required. The steel product […]
Trade attorney and Steel Market Update contributor Lewis Leibowitz offers the following update on events in Washington: On Saturday in Osaka, Japan, U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping agreed not to impose any new trade restrictions and to resume negotiations on a general agreement to resolve their ongoing disputes. There are a […]
Trade attorney and Steel Market Update contributor Lewis Leibowitz offers the following update on events in Washington: The lawsuit filed almost exactly one year ago challenging Section 232 has been turned down by the Supreme Court. AIIS and the other plaintiffs in the case, which was decided in favor of the government last March, asked the […]
Trade attorney and Steel Market Update contributor Lewis Leibowitz offers the following update on events in Washington: On Friday evening, President Trump announced that he was suspending “indefinitely” the tariffs on goods imported from Mexico to the United States. The outlines of the deal that had this result have been announced, but there are no […]
Trade attorney and Steel Market Update contributor Lewis Leibowitz offers the following update on events in Washington: On Friday evening, President Trump announced that he was suspending “indefinitely” the tariffs on goods imported from Mexico to the United States. The outlines of the deal that had this result have been announced, but there are no […]