The Caribbean Basin Trade Preferences Act (CBTPA) and the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) programs which give products from developing countries duty-free and other preferential access to the US market expire this year. It is time to renew US trade...
In 2016, I worked with a Kenyan exporter and her buyer seeking to address the technical barriers to importing French beans from Kenya into the United States. A major vegetable export crop in Kenya, French beans are grown mostly by small-scale farmers, providing them...
The following excerpt was contributed by International Trade Attorney and Consultant, Andrea Ewart in the August 5th publication of Latin America Advisor. Andrea Ewart, CEO of DevelopTradeLaw: “The decisive rejection of Bouterse’s government by the Surinamese...
On June 5, 2020, the US Customs and Border Protection Agency (CBP) issued proposed rules to modernize the regulation of US customs brokers. CBP invites comments through the submission of written data, views, or arguments on all aspects of the proposed rule on or...
Andrea Ewart interviewed Tamica Solomon, the Acting Director of the United States-Mexico Canada (USMCA) Center. A summary of the interview follows. The interview can be heard in its entirety here. The USMCA Center was recently opened by the U.S. Customs and Border...
The new US-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) replaces North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) on July 1, 2020. After the three countries signed the agreement on the modernized NAFTA on October 1, 2018, its entry into force stalled. Democrats in the US Congress...
One of the issues companies will have to consider as they re-engineer supply chains in response to the coronavirus pandemic is – what’s behind the label? It can be challenging to determine exactly where in the world a product was made. Today’s global supply chains...
Trade sanctions are still operating during the pandemic. The United States and other countries impose comprehensive economic and trade embargoes or more targeted sanctions on countries considered “bad actors” by the United Nations or individual countries. Small...
With many companies experiencing significant financial hardship as a result of the social isolation policies put in place to fight the #COVID-19 pandemic, a Temporary Final Rule gave eligible Importers of Record the option to temporarily postpone the payment of some...
Perhaps, even before the coronavirus pandemic, the US-China trade war had already forced you to begin re-engineering your supply chains. Nevertheless, in 2019 about 16% of the world’s manufacturing output came from China. And the reality is that, even with the...
Proper classification of your imports has become increasingly important in the age of escalating Trump tariffs. Proper classification of your imports determines whether your product will avoid or have to pay these punitive tariffs that increase your costs. The US...
US-China trade – will the two economic powerhouses be able to negotiate away the trade tensions and tariffs? They have negotiated a Phase One deal which is scheduled to be signed in January. But we have been here before. The mutual mistrust means that all bets are off...
You need to act now to keep or obtain a suspension or reduction of duties on your imports under the Miscellaneous Tariff Bill process! A Miscellaneous Tariff Bill (MTB) is a law that temporarily reduces or suspends the import tariffs paid on eligible products imported...
As part of its responsibilities in protecting your intellectual property at the border, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) targets and seizes imports of counterfeit and pirated goods. In Part I, we discussed the steps that IPR holders can take to get CBP’s help...
The new Brexit deal reached by Boris Johnson with the European Union (EU) essentially revives one of the options previously rejected by Theresa May. To avoid reintroducing a border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, the new Brexit deal instead...