Perspectives on China

Right before the holidays, President Trump and his Administration took significant steps toward using economic sanctions to tackle international human rights abuses and corruption.

Major regulatory changes in data governance recently went into effect in Japan and China that are likely to impact organizations doing business in these Asian markets.

Trump has vowed to renegotiate NAFTA and scrap the Trans-Pacific Partnership and the flagging Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership. But there has been virtually no discussion of how a Trump administration would address and enforce anti-dumping and countervailing duty (AD/CVD) orders.

On September 16, Arent Fox secured a favorable verdict for Lei Luo and LDJ Investments, Inc. following a week-long jury trial in the Superior Court of California County of Los Angeles.

US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has been directed by Congress to be much more aggressive in enforcing the customs laws. This has led to CBP starting a number of new initiatives and procedures to target and take action on what it deems to be “high risk” transactions.

Two China-based clothing manufacturers, Motives Far East and Motives China Limited, and their affiliated US importer, Motives, Incorporated, agreed to pay nearly $13.4 million for engaging in a double invoicing scheme designed to defraud the US out of millions of dollars in customs duties.

US Customs and Border Protection has been directed by Congress to be much more aggressive in policing antidumping and countervailing duty orders.

On April 26, 2016, United States Steel Corporation filed a massive trade case accusing Chinese steel producers and their distributors of conspiring to fix prices, steal trade secrets and use false labeling to avoid trade duties.

On May 15, 60 Minutes featured two high-profile cases successfully defended by white collar partner Peter Zeidenberg involving Americans wrongly accused of espionage-related crimes.

Why does it matter? This seemingly inconsequential distinction may mean the difference between being able to prominently display your embroidered brand trademark on your jeans and being required to place a large “Made in China” marking next to the embroidered brand trademark.

Buried among all the provisions arming the government with new enforcement tools in the Trade Facilitation and Trade Enforcement Act of 2015 are a handful of benefits which, if applied correctly and appropriately, could save importers money. 

Autonomous driving, hybrids, and electric vehicles are now squarely part of our generation’s lexicon.

International trade practice group leader Kay Georgi recently spoke with Reuters to address a new US export restriction against a telecom manufacturer that is expected to have major implications across the global trade market.

Partner Peter Zeidenberg joined The Heat to discuss the cases of his clients Xi Xiaoxing and Sherry Chen with CCTV.

At long last, after two plus years of debate, last week the Senate finally passed the Trade Facilitation and Enforcement Act of 2015 (2015 Trade Enforcement Act).

Partner Peter Zeidenberg’s latest client was featured by The New York Times after federal prosecutors in Philadelphia announced the indictment of five people, including two research scientists, on charges of stealing trade secrets for cancer treatment drugs from the British drug giant GlaxoSmithKlin

As the threat of Chinese hackers has become a top priority, the US has ramped up prosecutions against Chinese-American scientists for espionage and trade secrets violations, creating headline after headline.

Partner Peter Zeidenberg published an opinion article with the Washington Post on November 12 on the heels of successfully convincing the Department of Justice to drop charges against two Chinese-American citizens accused of illegally sending sensitive information to contacts in China.

California passed Assembly Bill 60 (AB60) which allows the Department of Motor Vehicles to issue a driver’s license to any person, which could include an undocumented person, who cannot establish their legal presence in the US but otherwise meets licensing requirements to drive a motor vehicle.

On July 28, 2015, Mead Johnson Nutrition Company, an Illinois-based pediatric food producer, settled FCPA charges brought by the SEC for over $12 million.

Canada’s National Contact Point (NCP) recently sanctioned China Gold International Resources Corp. Ltd. (China Gold) for its unwillingness to participate in consultations under the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises (OECD Guidelines) regarding China Gold’s mining activities in Tibet.

Iran and the United States, along with Russia, China, France, the UK, and Germany announced that they have reached an agreement on the key parameters for a Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action regarding the Iran nuclear program in exchange for the termination of certain sanctions.

California AG filed two lawsuits against Chinese and Indian apparel manufacturers, accusing them of unfair competitive advantage through pirated software use.

Arent Fox White Collar Partner Michelle Shapiro (Arroyo) is leading an interactive half-day FCPA boot camp at ACI’s 21st New York Conference.