International Trade Today is providing readers with the top stories from Feb. 22-26 in case they were missed. All articles can be found by searching on the titles or by clicking on the hyperlinked reference number.

Two and a half years after the first Section 301 tariffs went on what ultimately covered the vast majority of imports from China, most of the public lobbying is about renewing exclusions, or offering another round of exclusion applications to be submitted. Lawyers and advocates differ on how they think lobbying will develop over the course of 2021, as President Joe Biden gets his trade team in place. Dan Ujczo, senior counsel at Thompson Hine, said he thinks the focus on exclusions is because businesses have gotten the message on 301s from the administration, which he described as: “brace for these to be around. These aren’t going away anytime soon.”

First sale treatment may not be applicable to transactions involving non-market economies, including China, Court of International Trade Senior Judge Thomas Aquilino said in a March 1 decision. In a ruling on cookware imported by Meyer from Thailand and China through a Chinese middleman, the trade court found the involvement of Chinese companies made it difficult to determine whether the transaction was at arm's length and undistorted by non-market influences, as required for first sale valuation. Though he stopped short of saying imports originating in non-market economies could never receive first sale valuation, he called on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit to clarify.

Across dozens of pages of written answers to Senate Finance Committee members, U.S. trade representative nominee Katherine Tai often avoided directly answering questions, instead pledging to work with senators on their priorities. One of the most common questions posed to Tai was whether she would renew Section 301 exclusions that expired last year; as well, whether she would allow companies that were denied exclusions another chance at a request; and whether she would reopen the exclusion process.

U.S. trade representative nominee Katherine Tai said that despite the president's prioritizing of the domestic economy, “I don't expect, if confirmed, to be put on the back burner at all.” Tai, a veteran of the House Ways and Means Committee trade staff, faced largely friendly questioning over a more-than-three-hour hearing in the Senate Finance Committee on Feb. 25.

The Section 301 tariffs on Chinese imports “touched directly a lot of people and have disrupted a lot of people’s lives and livelihoods,” said Katherine Tai, President Joe Biden’s nominee for U.S. trade representative, at her Senate Finance Committee confirmation hearing Thursday. She was asked how, if confirmed, she would revise USTR's tariff exclusion decisions that critics during the Trump administration called inconsistent and lacking transparency. During the three-hour hearing, she didn’t say whether she favored keeping or eliminating the tariffs themselves.

Friederike Gorgens, previously with Arent Fox, joined Greenberg Traurig as of counsel in the firm's international trade practice. At Arent Fox, Gorgens was listed as one of the litigators in the case challenging lists 3 and 4A of the Section 301 China tariffs. Arent Fox is one of the largest law firms involved in the litigation, representing more than 50 of the lawsuits against the tariffs.

Thompson Hine trade attorney Dan Ujczo expects the only activity on trade in the first eight months of Joe Biden's presidency will be on issues either so small that they don't make a splash -- such as the Miscellaneous Tariff Bill and the Generalized System of Preferences benefits program -- or on issues that have an immediate need for action.

U.S. trade representative nominee Katherine Tai said that despite the president's prioritizing of the domestic economy, “I don't expect, if confirmed, to be put on the back burner at all.” Tai, a veteran of the House Ways and Means Committee trade staff, faced largely friendly questioning over a more-than-three-hour hearing in the Senate Finance Committee on Feb. 25.

The American Apparel and Footwear Association told President Joe Biden that the Section 301 exclusion that covers cloth masks will be expired on April 1, and that it needs to be extended past then, since the COVID-19 pandemic will not be over. They said in a news release that without that exclusion, the tariff rate on personal protective equipment will double.