Insights

Washington – August 15, 2024: The 2025 edition of The Best Lawyers in America® has recognized 42 Crowell & Moring lawyers as "Best Lawyers" and 29 lawyers as “Ones to Watch.”

Washington – June 24, 2024: Crowell & Moring has been recommended in eight practice areas in the 17th edition of the Legal 500 United States. In addition, partner Daniel Forman, co-chair of the firm’s Government Contracts Group, has been named to the Legal 500’s “Hall of Fame” for Government Contracts.

On his first day in office, President Trump rolled out a sprawling set of directives to the heads of numerous government agencies charged with shaping U.S. trade policy.  While stopping short of enacting new tariffs, the Presidential Memorandum defining an “America First Trade Policy” lays the investigative groundwork for potentially sweeping changes to tariffs and the existing trade environment.   The Memorandum requires various agencies—including, e.g., the Department of Commerce, the Department of the Treasury, and the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (“USTR”)—to issue upward of twenty reports by April 1, 2025, each one covering a unique trade-related issue pertaining to certain key themes, including unfair and unbalanced trade with all U.S. trading partners, the relationship and impact of trade relations with the People’s Republic of China, and the state of economic security matters relevant for goods entering and exiting the United States. 

On November 14, 2024, Rep. John Moolenaar (R-Mich.), chair of the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party, introduced the Restoring Trade Fairness Act, seeking to suspend China’s Permanent Normal Trade Relations (“PNTR”) status.

On June 6, 2022, President Biden issued a White House Fact Sheet (“Fact Sheet”) outlining President Biden’s “Bold Executive Action to Spur Domestic Clean Energy Manufacturing” along with five related Defense Production Act (“DPA”) Presidential Determinations[1] (“Presidential Determinations”) and a Declaration of Emergency and Authorization for Temporary Extensions of Time and Duty-Free Importation of Solar Cells and Module from Southeast Asia (the “Declaration”).  The Fact Sheet states the President is (1) authorizing use of the DPA to accelerate domestic production of clean energy technologies; (2) encouraging domestic solar manufacturing capacity through the use of master supply agreements with enhanced domestic preferences; and (3) creating a two-year trade regulation bridge as domestic manufacturing for solar products scales up.  The White House stated that these actions are being taken to lower energy costs, reduce risks to the power grid, and mitigate climate change.  The Department of Energy (“DOE”) also released a statement on June 6 about the DPA Presidential Determinations which describes DOE’s concerns with regard to each material or technology for which a determination was issued.  The statements made by the White House and DOE also make clear that these actions to employ the DPA are part of the Administration’s broader “all of government” approach to addressing Environmental Justice, with the intention to “strongly encourage projects with environmental justice outcomes that empower the clean energy transition in low income communities historically overburdened by legacy pollution.”

Meeting U.S. customs law requirements can be challenging, time-consuming, and very costly for importers if not done right. Non-compliance with customs laws can result in civil and criminal penalties, denial of entry, seizure and destruction of goods. It is imperative for importers to have a solid protocol for applying the critical rules on a day-to-day basis.

The World Customs Organization and the Azerbaijan State Customs Committee are pleased to announce that the 10th annual WCO PICARD Conference will take place in Baku, Azerbaijan from September 8-10, 2015.

SFIA is pleased to host the 2015 Litigation & Risk Management Summit on February 2-3, 2015 at the Cosmopolitan Las Vegas Hotel.

Businesses are under increasing pressure to measure, improve, and disclose their environmental performance to investors, to consumers, and to regulators. And their efforts are reaching into every area of their operations, as are the risks and opportunities that follow. 

As a result of the trade wars there has been significant increase in tariffs on imports. Because tariffs are applied based on the value of imports it is critical that companies understand how to properly value their imports under U.S. customs laws. Using improper values may lead to draconian audits, enforcement actions and penalties imposed by U.S. Customs and Border Protection. However, smart importers structure their transactions to reduce U.S. customs values, creating significant cost savings from reduced tariffs. This topic will explore the basic rules of proper U.S. customs valuation, common errors, how to avoid risks, and how to minimize U.S. customs value to maximize your company’s profits.