Insights

Washington – January 3, 2022: Crowell & Moring elected 13 lawyers to the firm’s partnership, effective January 1, 2022. The firm also promoted seven to the position of senior counsel and 19 associates to the position of counsel. The new partners have been promoted from within the ranks of the firm’s London, New York, and Washington, D.C. offices and from across several practice groups, including Advertising & Media; Antitrust & Competition; Corporate; Energy; Environment & Natural Resources; Government Contracts; Health Care; Technology & Intellectual Property; International Dispute Resolution; Litigation; Mass Tort, Product, and Consumer Litigation; and Privacy & Cybersecurity.

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. 

Supply chain disruptions have exacerbated strains and weaknesses in existing trade infrastructure, causing widespread ripple effects throughout the global economy.  From an international trade perspective, companies face real-time pressures to make business decisions that may have complex legal implications going forward.  Our International Trade Team will lead a discussion highlighting current risks companies are encountering, potential legal implications, and strategies to mitigate risks in real-time in this dynamic and changing landscape.

With the near daily change in U.S. trade-related regulations, including new export control restrictions, the rise and fall of sanctions programs, escalating tariffs affecting supply chains, among many others, international trade diligence, risk assessment, and mitigation has become a central feature in successfully closing deals today.  Given that virtually all companies have some amount of international exposure—whether through direct operations, employee base, supply chain and sourcing, customers, or financing—international trade related risks are present in virtually all deals, raising the possibility of penalties, fines, business interruptions, bottom line profit impact, and reputational concerns for the successor-in-interest. 

The USMCA will go into effect on July 1, 2020, and companies should immediately assess how their NAFTA compliance programs must be revised to ensure continued trade compliance. NAFTA transformed North American supply chains when it went into effect in 1993, and USMCA changes to NAFTA significantly alter rules on which companies have structured their global manufacturing and distribution of goods. Join us for this first in a series of presentations on how the new USMCA will affect your company as we move closer to the July 1st implementation date. We will cover issues such as: