The Office of the United States Trade Representative (“USTR”) announced on September 6, 2023 the further extension of 352 reinstated exclusions and 77 COVID-related exclusions from the Section 301 tariffs on imports from China. These exclusions, which cover a variety of products ranging from machinery components to medical equipment, constitute the only remaining active exclusions

John Brew
John Brew is the co-chair of Crowell & Moring's International Trade Group and a partner in the firm’s Washington, D.C. office. He has extensive experience in import and export trade regulation, and he regularly advises corporations, trade associations, foreign governments, and non-governmental organizations on matters involving customs administration, enforcement, compliance, litigation, legislation and policy.
John represents clients in proceedings at the administrative and judicial levels, as well as before Congress and the international bureaucracies that handle customs and trade matters. He advises clients on all substantive import regulatory issues handled by U.S. Customs and Border Protection and Immigration and Customs Enforcement, such as classification, valuation, origin, marking, tariff preference programs, other agency regulations, admissibility, import restrictions, quotas, drawback, audits, prior disclosures, penalties, investigations, Importer Self Assessment and Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism programs, importations under bond, the Jones Act, vessel repairs, and foreign trade zone matters.
New Section 232 Exclusion Proposed Rules Will Force Additional Burden of Proof on Importers and Domestic Producers
On August 28, 2023, the U.S. Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security (“BIS”) proposed new rules to streamline and strengthen the Section 232 Exclusions Process for Steel and Aluminum imports. The proposed rules will build on the five existing interim final rules and respond to public comments received by BIS since February 2022. BIS…
U.S. Department of Commerce Releases Text from IPEF Agreement on Supply Chains
On September 7, 2023, the U.S. Department of Commerce released the text of the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity (IPEF) Supply Chain Agreement three days before a U.S. delegation is set to travel to Bangkok, Thailand for the fifth negotiating round. In this round, IPEF partners will focus on Pillars I (Trade)…
GAO Report on Section 232 Exclusions Signals Increased Enforcement for Steel and Aluminum Importers
On July 20, 2023, the U.S. Government Accountability Office (“GAO”) released a report titled, Steel and Aluminum Tariffs: Agencies Should Ensure Section 232 Exclusion Requests are Needed and Duties are Paid. Following an investigation analyzing import entry data from March 2018 through September 2021, GAO published a 66-page report about the usage and administration…
House Democrats Introduce Legislation to Reauthorize and Update Key Trade Programs
On Thursday, June 22, House Democrats proposed a bill named the “American Worker and Trade Competitiveness Act”, which aims to reauthorize and update key trade programs aimed at enhancing U.S. trade competitiveness and supporting workers. Introduced by Earl Blumenauer (D-OR), ranking member of the Ways & Means trade subcommittee, the bill focuses on the Generalized…
Detained Shipments Exceeding $1.3 Billion in UFLPA’s First Year
A year following the commencement of the UFPLA (Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act) in June 2022, Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has apprehended nearly 4,300 shipments subject to UFLPA review or enforcement actions, with a combined value exceeding $1.3 billion. According to the agency’s data, this represents a significant increase compared to the $485 million…
Congress Continues to Target Section 321 – Lawmakers call for USPS data on China-Origin Shipments
On June 28, 2023, Mike Gallagher (R-WI) , Chairman of the Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party, and James Comer (R-KY), Chairman of the House Oversight and Accountability Committee, jointly sent a formal letter addressed to USPS Postmaster General Louis DeJoy requesting data on Chinese-origin mail and shipments entering the United States. The letter also…
Legislation on Higher Tariffs on China Seeks to Reduce U.S. Trade Deficit
The Raising Tariffs on Imports from China Act was introduced by Senator Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) and aims to increase tariffs on imports from China until the United State’s bilateral trade deficit returns to balance. In tandem with this legislation, Senator Hawley is pushing for debt limit talks to focus on the reduction of the trade…
Online Sellers Be Ware: Senate Reintroduces Digital Country-of-Origin Label Legislation
On May 3, 2023, Senators Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis., Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, and J.D. Vance, R-Ohio, introduced the ‘‘Country of Origin Labeling Online Act’’ or the ‘‘COOL Online Act’’ in an attempt to require origin and location disclosure for new products of foreign origin offered for sale on the internet. Following previous unsuccessful attempts to pass…
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Release the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA) Statistics Dashboard
After more than 6 months since the UFLPA went into effect in June 2022, CBP released its UFLPA Statistics Dashboard. The UFLPA Dashboard provides users a snapshot of the number of shipments that have been subjected to UFLPA-related reviews and enforcement actions. Per CBP, the Dashboard contains “data related to enforcement of the UFLPA,”…