Weekly Trade Briefing: February 14 – 18, 2022
Trade Update • FEBRUARY 18, 2021
Aweekly roundup of news reports, government announcements, and other information about current and emerging developments in international trade and customs compliance.

CBP Launches New Interactive Intellectual Property Rights Dashboard
CBP recently launched its new interactive Intellectual Property Rights Dashboard, a publicly available resource that allows users access to IPR seizure information aggregated by volume and Manufacturer’s Suggested Retail Price. It includes filters for fiscal year, product category, Centers of Excellence and Expertise, and mode of transportation, and features an interactive world map showing IPR seizures by country of origin. The government hopes that better visibility into IPR seizure statistics will increase awareness of the economic harm and potential hazards posed by counterfeit and pirated goods.
Commerce Announces Competitive Grant Program to Promote U.S. Exports
The Department of Commerce announced on Feb. 15 that it is now accepting applications for the 2022 Market Development Cooperator Program. These awards, administered by Commerce’s International Trade Administration, provide non-profit industry groups with up to $300,000 in federal funding for innovative and sustainable projects that help U.S. businesses generate or expand exports and create or sustain jobs. “Awardees will be able to leverage the expertise of our global staff from more than 75 international markets to pursue innovative projects that grow and diversify our workforce while strengthening our economy and making the United States more competitive on the world stage,” said Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo. Interested organizations should visit trade.gov/mdcp to learn more about the program and application process that includes an eligibility determination and preliminary counseling session with MDCP program experts.
Groups Push for to Have Trade Provisions Included in Indo-Pacific Economic Framework
A coalition of groups including the Chamber of Commerce, American Farm Bureau, Business Roundtable and National Association of Manufacturers this week called on the Biden administration to negotiate a wide-ranging deal that includes enforceable technology and agriculture standards and new market access opportunities. The groups want to see various “state-of-the-art” trade provisions such as those included in recent agreements included in the emerging Indo-Pacific Framework, that the White House has up to now stated is “not a free trade deal” and “will not include new market access commitments.”
Canada Wins USMCA Dispute Settlement Challenge re U.S. Safeguard Tariffs on Canadian Solar Imports
A dispute resolution panel has agreed that tariffs on Canadian-made solar products imposed in 2018 by the Trump administration violated the terms of the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement. The panel’s final report, released Tuesday, found that by keeping Canadian exports subject to its “safeguard measures” the U.S. is violating its obligations under the deal. Specifically, that the U.S. failed to meet two prerequisite conditions under Article 10.2 of USMCA—that solar imports from Canada “did not constitute a substantial share of total imports” and “did not contribute importantly to the serious injury.” In a statement, International Trade Minister Mary Ng welcomed the panel’s findings and vowed to “work toward the complete removal of these unjustified tariffs.”
White House Updates Critical Emerging Technologies List
The National Science and Technology Council this week released an updated list of advanced technologies that are potentially significant to U.S. national security. This list updates and revises the initial critical technologies list identified in the October 2020 report, “National Strategy for Critical and Emerging Technologies.” Expanding on the original CET list, the 2022 update identifies subfields under each sector that describe the intended scope in more detail and, where possible, focuses on core technologies rather than on technology application areas or performance characteristics. While the list has no direct regulatory impact, it may be used by the U.S. government for the development of multilateral and unilateral export controls as well as to identify sensitive foreign direct investment.
CBSA Initiates Normal Value Reviews of Three Carbon Steel Welded Pipe Producers
On February 15, the Canada Border Services Agency announced it has initiated a review to update the normal values and export prices applicable to certain carbon steel welded pipe exported to Canada from Turkey by Borusan Mannesmann Boru Sanayi ve Ticaret A.S. and Cayirova Boru ve Sanayi Ticaret A.S., and from Pakistan by International Industries Limited. The normal value review is part of the CBSA’s enforcement of the Canadian International Trade Tribunal’s 2019 injury finding respecting dumping of the subject goods from Pakistan, the Philippines, Turkey and Vietnam.
Listen: Behind the ‘Positive Trend’ in Domestic Industry Decisions at the ITC
In recent years, final decisions coming from the International Trade Commission have largely affirmed that complainants have managed to satisfy the “domestic industry” requirement statutorily called for by Section 337. Jonathan Engler, a veteran ITC litigator and former attorney in the ITC’s General Counsel’s office, appeared this week on the “Exclusive Rights: Intellectual Property” podcast to discuss this issue in detail (click here to listen, the program is roughly a half-hour) . Engler explains what kind of information complainants must show to establish a domestic industry based on insights gained from his in-depth analysis of relevant ITC decisions since 2019. Also discussed are the history of the DI requirement, recent decisions and the lessons to be learned from them, along with reasons other than the DI requirement which are likely to trip up complainants at the ITC.
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