On May 28, 2025, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of International Trade (CIT) unanimously struck down the extensive tariffs imposed by President Trump under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA). The CIT held that the imposition of the tariffs exceeded the authority granted to the President by Congress under IEEPA. The Court issued a permanent injunction blocking the administration from enforcing the IEEPA tariffs, and ordered the administration to issue the necessary administrative orders within 10 days to end them. In response, the government appealed the case to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.
Continue Reading Federal Court Strikes Down IEEPA Tariffs

Years ago, when I was a baby lawyer living in a group house in DC, we had a toaster—my toaster. I had owned the toaster since college and it was showing its age. Eventually, you had to hold down the thing[1] to keep the bread lowered in the slots and toasting. But the appliance still heated bread and produced toast. One morning, I became so frustrated with that toaster and the thing-holding-down effort that I threw the toaster out, fully intending to get a new toaster.

The following day, my housemate, we’ll call him Mike,[2] raised an important…
Continue Reading Throwing Away the Toaster: Where AI Controls Are Now and May be Heading

Some importers are finding, to their surprise, that the Trump Administration’s 25% tariffs on aluminum and steel create an exemption from the 125% tariffs on Chinese goods.
Continue Reading Not What You Think: Some Trump Tariffs Exempt Your Goods from Other Trump Tariffs

The second Trump administration has come flying out of the starting blocks on international trade policy actions—imposing and rescinding, shaping and reshaping tariffs, sanctions, and export controls. The executive orders and directives have come so thick and fast that it is not always simple for businesses to chart a consistent policy direction and develop their plans to account for what might be coming next.
Continue Reading A Roadmap for Export Controls? Project 2025 and the Future of U.S. Exports – Part III

The implementation of new 25% Section 232 duties on steel, aluminum, and certain derivatives, effective March 12, 2025, which are in addition to any special rate of duty otherwise applicable, are affecting importers globally. Here is a breakdown of what these new tariffs entail:…
Continue Reading Overview of Section 232 Tariffs on Steel and Aluminum: What Importers Need to Know

The second Trump administration has come flying out of the starting blocks on international trade policy actions—imposing and rescinding, shaping and reshaping tariffs, sanctions, and export controls. The executive orders and directives have come so thick and fast that it is not always simple for businesses to chart a consistent policy direction and develop their plans to account for what might be coming next.
Continue Reading A Roadmap for Export Controls? Project 2025 and the Future of U.S. Exports – Part II

The second Trump administration has come flying out of the starting blocks on international trade policy actions—imposing and rescinding, shaping and reshaping tariffs, sanctions, and export controls. The executive orders and directives have come so thick and fast that it is not always simple for businesses to chart a consistent policy direction and develop their plans to account for what might be coming next.
Continue Reading A Roadmap for Export Controls? Project 2025 and the Future of U.S. Exports – Part I

On April 16, 2025, the Department of Commerce announced that it initiated an investigation on April 1, 2025, under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act, into imports of semiconductors, semiconductor manufacturing equipment (SME), and related products to evaluate how those imports may impact national security.
Continue Reading Who is Stacking the Chips: U.S. Commerce Department Launches Section 232 Investigation into Semiconductor Imports

In the context of the tariffs imposed by the Trump Administration on imported goods, a prevalent misconception has arisen that foreign suppliers automatically bear the cost of these tariffs. The reality, however, is more complex. The actual payment of tariffs is significantly influenced by the specific contractual agreements between U.S. buyers and their foreign suppliers.
Continue Reading Understanding the Allocation of Tariff Payments

On April 2, President Trump issued an Executive Order (EO) imposing global reciprocal tariffs (White House Fact Sheet). The EO drew enough parallels to the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act that Trump mentioned it in his Rose Garden announcement. The EO imposes a 10% baseline tariff on all imports to the United States beginning April 3, 2025.
Continue Reading Blockading the Ports: U.S. Imposes 10% Global Tariff; Higher Reciprocal Tariff Rates by Country

UPDATE: On February 5, 2025, the Trump administration issued an executive order delaying the cancellation of de minimis until “adequate systems are in place to fully and expediently process and collect tariff revenue applicable”. Imports from China below the value of $800 will generally not be subject to the 10% tariff or Section 301 duties.
Continue Reading The First Wave: U.S. Imposes Tariffs on Canada (or not?), Mexico (or not?), and China (well, yeah, probably so)