World Trade Center-Kansas City News: January, 2022

Husch Blackwell’s International Trade Law Year In Review report highlights notable events in trade from the past year. While they noted that trade laws and policies remained virtually unchanged amid the transition from one administration to the other, one noteworthy change was the swearing in of Katherine Tai as the new U.S. Trade representative. She stated that her priority was in working with traditional U.S. allies. Free trade agreements remained stagnant in 2021, with the expiration of the Trade Promotion Authority, which had expedited the process of Congress approving Free Trade Agreements. In November, a Cambodia Business Advisory on High Risk Investment was issued, which warned that “…companies doing business with certain sectors of the Cambodian economy should perform appropriate due diligence to avoid legal risks associated under various sanctions authorities.” The report remarked upon the fragility of the global trade ecosystem, as evidenced by the Suez Canal blocking in March. Overall, Demurrage and Detentions fees increased in quantity in 2021, with supply chain disruptions dominating the trade world. Read the full report here.  

Looking Forward to 2022:

Looking forward to 2022, Secretary Raimondo identified the department’s priorities for the year. These priorities include implementing the administrations Build Back Better agenda and increasing clean tech exports. Read the full press release here.

In international trade law, the Husch Blackwell report is hopeful that the Generalized System of Preferences and the Miscellaneous Tariff Bill will be passed by Congress in Q1 of 2022. They predict that the U.S. will likely continue using export controls and sanctions on the People’s Republic of China in 2022. Read the full report here.