Our international trade compliance lawyers from around the world reviewed major developments impacting international trade for this year's Global Year-End Review of Import/Export & Trade Compliance Developments Conference.
Click on the links below to watch a 75-minute recorded session covering topics such as global sanctions, export controls, enforcement, customs, forced labor updates in US, Canada, UK and EU, China, Asia Pacific and Latin America trade developments among others.
Global Sanctions Developments and Trends
Speakers: Alison Stafford Powell (Moderator), Janet Kim, Alex Lamy, Ben Smith, Olof König
This session focused on key sanctions developments, trends and associated practical business impacts across the US, EU and UK, including the latest on Russia-related sanctions, the snapback of Iran sanctions, relaxation of Syria sanctions, developments relating to Venezuela and Israel/Gaza, shifting sanctions policies and targets and regulator expectations.
Export Control Developments in the US, EU and UK
Speakers: John McKenzie (Moderator), Alison Stafford Powell, Lise Test, Andrew Rose, Olof Forssell
This session discussed key national and regional export control proposals and actions across the US, EU and UK, including coping with the expansive BIS Affiliate Rule, the status of the AI Diffusion Rule and semiconductor controls, regulator expectations around the foreign direct product rule and the impact on supply chains, licensing policies and processes, increased unilateral EU and UK export controls, as well as updates on national security-related export-adjacent controls (ICTS, connected vehicles and biosecurity).
China's Trade, Tariff and Export Control Developments and Responses to the US-China Trade War
Speakers: John McKenzie (Moderator), Frank Pan, Tina Li, Ivy Tan
Our China team provided an update on China's implementation of its export control regime and delves into China's increased use of various different trade-related tools to respond to escalating US and other country geopolitical tensions through tariff retaliations, rare earth element export bans, "is-informed" letters, new penalties and enforcement trends, as well as China's semiconductor anti-dumping investigation.
The Latest on US Tariffs, Tariff Mitigation, Tariff-related Litigation, and What Comes Next
Speakers: John McKenzie (Moderator), Chandri Navarro, Christine Streatfeild, Eunkyung Kim Shin, Patrick de Lapérouse
Our US customs team touched on the current state of affairs in the ongoing tariff wars from a US perspective, then focuses on practical business implications and offensive/defensive strategies for companies, including how tariff stacking works, transhipment rules, what to expect after the November Supreme Court hearings challenging the IEEPA-based tariffs, section 232 investigations, tariff mitigation strategies, China-related actions and the USMCA renewal.
The Global Response to US Tariffs – Perspectives from Canada, Mexico, UK, EU, China and APAC
Speakers: John McKenzie (Moderator), Jennifer Revis, Adriana Ibarra-Fernandez, Ivy Tan, Frank Pan, Jing Xu
Following the earlier US tariff session, this session switched focus to the global response to US tariffs with our global customs team delving into the US trade agreements reached with the UK and EU and what those might herald for businesses in the ongoing negotiations with other countries, as well as responses from Mexico, Canada and China, local country of origin rule enforcement, incentives and protective measures and retaliation.
Global Enforcement Trends and Investigations
Speakers: Alison Stafford Powell (Moderator), Rod Rosenstein, Kerry Contini, Tristan Grimmer, Terence Gilroy, Patrick de Lapérouse
This session focused on global trade-related enforcement, including insights on the current DOJ's enforcement priorities and practices, learnings from recent enforcement cases, the increased focus on customs and trade fraud, EU and UK enforcement policy reviews and the shift towards criminalization across the EU Member States, voluntary disclosure considerations and recommended best practices in dealing with current regulators.
Middle East Trade Developments, Including Datacenter Considerations
Speakers: Alison Stafford Powell (Moderator), Janet Kim, Laya Aoun-Hani, Mohamed Elfar, Dino Wilkinson, Hani Naja
This session featured our Middle East trade team first providing a spotlight on import/export and trade-related principles and developments across the Middle East, including around the Gaza peace deal, Syria, the approach of Middle Eastern banks to sanctions risks, and mitigating diversion risks. The second part of this session delved into the increasingly topical issue of data center set-ups in the Middle East, including local investment rules, incentives and local law considerations around data transfers and operator liability, infrastructure procurement, as well as a reminder of US export control, outbound data transfer and related considerations.
LATAM Trade Developments
Speakers: Alison Stafford Powell (Moderator), Jose Hoyos-Robles, Alessandra Machado*, Francisco Negrao*, Esteban Ropolo, Juan David Lopez
In this session, our LATAM Trade Team covered the current geopolitical context driving trade-related policies and practices across Mexico, Brazil, Colombia and Argentina, including updates on MERCOSUR, changes to customs laws, tariffs and trade remedies, audits and trends, and challenges and opportunities for businesses.
* Trench Rossi Watanabe and Baker McKenzie have executed a strategic cooperation agreement for consulting on foreign law
APAC Trade Developments Beyond China
Speakers: John McKenzie (Moderator), Kana Itabashi, Ivy Tan, Louis Hsieh, Kristine Anne V. Mercado-Tamayo, Keerati Saneewong Na Ayudthaya, Ngoc Trung Tran
In this final session of our series, our APAC Trade Team had taken a look at the responses of key APAC countries beyond China to the Trump tariffs, as well as supply chain restructuring trends, country of origin rules, trade agreement negotiations with the US and regional initiatives, export controls and enforcement amongst Japan, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam.