On October 4, 2021, USTR Katherine Tai spoke to the Center for Strategic and International Studies on the future of the U.S. trade relationship with China.  Highlights of Ambassador Tai’s comments follow: The U.S. will restart a targeted China 301 tariff exclusion process to mitigate the effects of certain Section 301 tariffs that have not generated any strategic benefits and raised costs on Americans. Such an exclusion process (a time frame for which has not yet been announced) would...

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From out-of-touch U.S. ports, to trans-Atlantic bottlenecks, to guarding against supply chain cyberattacks, to power outages in China, to added air cargo capacity, we’re here to deliver the latest news in international shipping.  We’d be the first to say that data and information kept in silos is one of the biggest problems for supply chains. And, although the industry has made big improvements in this regard in the past few years, there’s still a lot of work to be done....

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The US dollar was driven higher in September by two main factors. The first was the anticipation of the Federal Reserve continuing to move toward tapering before the end of the year.  Investors have discounted one hike and part of a second one next year.  To be sure, the US is not leading the move away from maximum monetary stimulus.  Norway hiked rates last month, and the Reserve Bank of New Zealand will likely do so this month.     Not...

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On Wednesday, top EU and US officials attended the first meeting of the US-EU Trade and Technology Council, an effort designed to ensure that the West’s influence in technology and trade are maintained. The Representatives in attendance laid out plans to coordinate more closely on their response to emerging technologies and pressing trade threats. High-level commitments were made during the Council meeting to co-tackling burgeoning economic and security challenges. Challenges that include the regulation of artificial intelligence, easing of the semiconductor shortage...

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When individuals sign legal documents, including personal checks, contracts, tax returns, etc., they generally are not required to add any language explaining who they are. Their names alone satisfy the legal requirements for validating those documents. However, when those people are also officers of corporations or managers of partnerships or LLCs, they usually include their titles to establish themselves as representatives of those entities and not as individual signatories personally responsible for upholding the documents’ terms. Similarly, trustees signing legal...

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