U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai said the U.S. and Canada could not reach an agreement on the administration of Canada's dairy tariff rate quotas, so the dispute will be decided by a panel. At issue is the fact that Canada has reserved the large majority of TRQs for Canadian processors, which means that consumer goods produced in the U.S. like ice cream, cheese or yogurt face higher tariffs in Canada because very little of the TRQ is available to Canadian retailers. Even when it's not restricted to processors, the TRQs are reserved for distributors, which means American producers cannot pitch their goods at lower prices directly to retail chains.

Sanctions compliance is increasingly presenting challenges to companies around the world as more countries turn to sanctions as a foreign policy tool, Baker McKenzie lawyers said. Some recent challenges include the growing emphasis on sanctions enforcement and the due diligence issues presented by countries with little publicly available information on ownership chains, the lawyers said.

A U.S. public relations firm was granted a Lobbying Disclosure Act exemption to the Foreign Agents Registration Act for its work on behalf of the U.S. subsidiary of a foreign corporation relating to the Section 232 national security tariffs, the Department of Justice revealed in a FARA Advisory Opinion. Since the firm is not representing the interests of a foreign government, it was able to skirt the required FARA registration in its work seeking Section 232 tariff relief for the company. While a foreign government may indirectly benefit from the described activities, the activities clearly benefit [U.S. subsidiary of foreign corporation]’s commercial interests," the opinion said. "Accordingly, we do not dispute your claim that the LDA exemption applies." The firm and the subsidiary, along with the foreign corporation, are not named.

The International Trade Commission is beginning a pilot program to allow its administrative law judges to issue partial interim initial determinations on key issues in Section 337 investigations, rather than having to decide on all issues at once, the ITC said on its website. Intended to expedite Section 337 proceedings, the pilot program will apply to all investigations instituted on or after May 12, 2021, and “to investigations instituted prior to that date at the discretion of the presiding ALJ,” the ITC said.

A U.S. district court judge dismissed a case involving the seizure of a multimillion-dollar jet after Texas officials failed to prove the jet violated export regulations or was involved in a money-laundering scheme. Texas police seized the British Aerospace BAE 125 Series jet last year on tax evasion and money-laundering charges and suggested the owners violated the Export Administration Regulations, but a judge said police had no evidence or probable cause.

The growth of alternative legal services providers (ALSPs) has expanded the types of companies providing legal services and led to new models of business for traditional law firms, the International Trade Commission said in an April report. In recent years, ALSPs growth has even outpaced that of the traditional law firms, evidenced by their growing use by these law firms and corporations, the ITC said. Advances in information technology has allowed for the growth of ALSPs, which are categorized as legal process outsourcing firms, companies with flexible staffing services and managed services providers. In particular, the Big Four accounting firms have truly adopted the ALSPs model to most directly compete with law firms. ALSPs have also been employed by law firm as a means to deliver legal services more efficiently, the ITC said. “With increasing collaboration between law firms and ALSPs, new models of doing business in law firms are emerging, and regulations related to non-lawyer ownership of law firms in certain U.S. states are shifting,” the report said. The ITC said that more than a third of the largest U.S. law firms by revenue have partnered with or created an internal ALSP.

Although a court opinion last week cleared the way for exports of 3D-printed guns to be removed from State Department jurisdiction, the guns will continue to be covered under the agency’s U.S. Munitions List until the ruling is made official, the State Department said.

The Justice Department hasn’t yet begun prosecuting cases involving violations of the Commerce’s Department's newly issued end-user restrictions but expects that to soon become a significant part of the agency’s focus, a senior Department of Justice official said.