Firm News

By George Tuttle III, Tuttle Law The United States, Mexico and Canada reached a compromise agreement regarding changes to NAFTA, the 25-year old North American Free Trade Agreement. To separate the old from the new, NAFTA has been renamed the “United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA). The Whitehouse has published a “fact sheet” about the revised agreement, […]

By Adrienne Braumiller, Partner & Founder Braumiller Law Group Many new technologies have erupted in the last 24 years, so sure, NAFTA was due for an update. Ecommerce has certainly also sparked the need for a facelift.  But modernized provisions for certification of origin (which is how countries determine which shipments qualify for duty-free status) […]

By Bob Brewer, VP Marketing BLG A few weeks ago, Walmart’s top brass in Bentonville Arkansas kindly asked the Trump administration to scale back on its plan to put tariffs on Christmas lights, shampoo, dog food, luggage, mattresses, handbags, backpacks, vacuum cleaners, bicycles, cooking grills, cable cords and air conditioners. In a letter to U.S. […]

by Brenda Cordova, BLG Mexico Attorney In November of 2006, the Mexican government abolished the Maquiladora and PITEX Programs and created the IMMEX Program.  IMMEX stands for Industrial Manufacturera Maquiladora y de Servicios de Exportacion (literarily translated into English as Manufacturing Maquiladora and Export Services Industry). Generally, an IMMEX is a business entity authorized by […]

By Bruce Leeds, Senior Counsel, Braumiller Law Group If you go to the Trade tab at CBP.gov one of the featured items on the menu is Priority Trade Issues.  There you will find information on Intellectual Property Rights (IPR).  This primarily deals with CBP enforcement of trademarks and copyrights. U.S. copyright and trademark holders lose […]

By Joe A. Cortez, Trade Advisor, Braumiller Consulting Group Lately, domestic natural gas producing companies have started to export more natural gas to Canada and Mexico.  Before 2000, the United States exported relatively small volumes of natural gas and mostly by pipeline to Mexico and Canada. Total annual exports have generally increased each year since […]

By Megan Mohler, BLG Fall Associate NAFTA is out. USMCA is in. Just before the September 30 deadline to submit the full text of the new US-MX trade pact to Congress, Canada was able to agree to updated terms and sign on to the deal, narrowly preserving the tri-lateral trade agreement that will replace the […]

On September 18, 2018, the USTR issued a press release on the finalization of tariff numbers for goods on Section 301 List 3. The additional tariffs of 10% will be effective on September 24, 2018, with the rate increasing to 25% on January 1, 2019.  List 3 can be found here. The list contains 5,745 […]

By Of Counsel to Braumiller Law Group, S. George Alfonso In the spring of 2018 the Trump administration announced a new round of tariffs against the Peoples Republic of China (“PRC”) (“301 Tariffs”).  These 301 Tariffs were enacted this summer and encompass a massive, if not total cross section, of products and components manufactured in […]

By Adrienne Braumiller, Founder & Partner, and Vicky Wu, Associate Attorney, Braumiller Law Group PLLC Any day now we expect to see President Trump’s signature on the Foreign Investment Risk Review Modernization Act (FIRMMA). On August 1, 2018, the Senate joined the House of Representatives in passing FIRRMA and introduced comprehensive changes to the law […]

By Bruce Leeds, Senior Counsel, Braumiller Law Group Acme Corporation receives a shipment by ocean freight from Japan. The terms of shipment on the purchase order are CIF Long Beach, California, meaning the price includes the cost of the goods plus prepaid ocean freight and insurance from Japan to Long Beach. The commercial invoice accompanying […]

By BLG Senior Attorney Paul Fudacz With the first round of Section 301 tariffs in place as of July 6, and with the second round of tariffs coming into effect August 23, many U.S. importers are paying more attention to the country of origin of their imported merchandise, especially when these products undergo final production […]

By Jennifer Horvath, BLG Attorney Section 301, China tariffs, Lists…. There is a lot to learn about the new Section 301 tariffs being applied to imports from China. Below is a brief overview of the China tariff schedules, and key ways to mitigate the potential amount owed due to these extra duties. What is Section […]

By BLG Mexico Attorneys Brenda Cordova and Francisco de la Cruz In Mexico, the manufacturing industry, formerly known as PITEX or maquila, and currently known as IMMEX (Manufacturing and Export Services Industry), has had considerable growth due to NAFTA.  This was mainly because of the low labor cost, the import duty reduction, and the preferential […]

By Bob Brewer, VP BLG Marketing President Trump recently lashed out with a new automobile related tariff threat against Canada, who at this time is sitting on the sidelines of the negotiation process, while retaliating against the steel and aluminum tariffs the U.S. slapped on them a few months ago. In the meantime, ongoing NAFTA […]

By Jennifer Horvath, Senior Associate Attorney, BLG Today, June 15th, 2018, the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) released the list of products which will become subject to the additional Section 301 tariff.  The tariffs were announced to become effective beginning July 6, 2018.  The government is imposing an additional 25% ad valorem […]

By Judy Davis, BCG Senior Trade Advisor CTPAT is rounding the bend into change territory! The road ahead is both familiar and new, with some of the first signs already added to the landscape. U.S. Customs and Border Protection, (CBP) presented its CTPAT Roadmap for the future of the program at the Customs Trade Partnership […]

By Brenda Cordova, BLG Mexico Attorney On May 31, 2018, the Mexican government announced a potential increase on import duties on specific products originated in the United States.  This was a response to the United States Proclamations 9704 and 9705, under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962, which included higher import duties […]

By BLG Attorney, Vicky Wu, and BLG Law Clerk, Megan Mohler The United States recently withdrew from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), also known as the Iran Nuclear Deal. The JCPOA is a multilateral agreement reached between Iran, the United States, the United Kingdom, France, China, Russia, and Germany. The agreement outlined specifics […]

By Paul Fudacz, Senior Attorney BLG On May 29, 2018 President Trump updated the steps his administration initially announced in March related to trade actions designed to protect domestic technology and intellectual property from certain discriminatory and burdensome trade practices by China.  The Chinese trade practices targeted relate to technology transfer, intellectual property, and innovation.  […]