The President of South Africa has recently assented to the Expropriation Bill (Bill), which is set to replace the Expropriation Act, 1975. This Bill outlines the specific procedures and conditions under which government bodies can expropriate land for public purposes. The aim is to ensure that land expropriation is conducted in a manner that serves the public interest. The Bill has sparked significant international attention, particularly after the new President of the United States (US…
President Trump signed an executive order on February 1, 2025 (“Executive Order”), imposing the long-anticipated tariffs on Canada, Mexico, and China under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (“U.S. Tariffs”).Canada retaliated swiftly by implementing retaliatory tariffs/countermeasures at a rate of 25% pursuant to sections 53 and 79 of the Customs Tariff by way of an Order in Council (United States Surtax Order (2025) (“Canada Tariffs”). Read the Government of Canada’s press release here. For the…
At the time of the publication of this blogpost on February 1, 2025, Mexico, Canada, and China have not yet responded to the imposition of tariffs. Stay tuned for updates and insights and practical tips for trade between the United States and these three countries as the situation develops. President Trump signed executive orders today, February 1, 2025, imposing the long-anticipated tariffs he has called for on Canada, Mexico, and China since early in his…
In a landmark ruling on 21 November 2024, the European Court of Justice (âECJâ) dismissed an appeal, upholding the General Court of the European Union’s original decision that relocation of production from the US to Thailand with the dominant purpose of avoiding EU retaliatory tariffs on US-origin goods could not be âeconomically justifiedâ and as such falls foul of the EUâs âanti-circumventionâ rules. This decision could have wide-ranging impacts, including a significant impact on companiesâ…
We are thrilled to announce the return of Baker McKenzie’s Asia Pacific Trade Conference, the premier flagship event for our Trade Practice Group in Asia Pacific where trade experts from 10 APAC jurisdictions will discuss the evolving geopolitical and trade regulatory landscape effecting supply chains in APAC. This conference is designed to equip you with the essential knowledge for navigating the ever-changing landscape as we share best practices for ensuring on-going compliance with trade and…
For the third week, we continued our Annual Compliance Conference with key customs developments impacting on businesses today. Specifically, we discussed the reform of the Union Customs Code in the EU, key trending customs developments in EMEA, and different methods of driving significant financial savings in global supply chains. EU customs reform: biggest overhaul since 1968 Tuesday 14 May SPEAKERS: Nicole Looks (Partner, Amsterdam), Thomas Kukanza (Senior Trade Advisor, Brussels), Sylvain Guelton (Senior Associate, Brussels),…
Our popular Annual Compliance Conference, which attracts over 4,000 in-house senior legal and compliance professionals every year from across the world, will be taking place from 30 April – 6 June (with a vacation break during the week commencing 27 May). We will be delivering our cutting-edge insights and guidance virtually on key global compliance, investigations and ethics trends. We invite you to join us to gain practical insights and analysis on significant developments across: View…
In the realm of international trade, the anti-dumping instrument plays a crucial role in safeguarding domestic industries against unfair trading practices. The high number of anti-dumping investigations initiated around the world, as well as an increasingly broad product scope (such as touted cases on hydrogen or electric vehicles), mean that many internationally active companies will need to be aware of anti-dumping. While World Trade Organization law sets out the general framework for municipal anti-dumping rules,…
Background Discussions at the World Trade Organization (“WTO”) on key issues concerning the regulation of international trade are intensifying in the lead up to the 13th biennial meeting of the highest decision making organ of the organization â the Ministerial Conference â scheduled to take place from 26-29 February 2024 in Abu Dhabi (âMC13â). Several informal meetings are being held in Geneva to streamline the work programme for MC13. One such meeting, scheduled to take…
World Trade Organization (“WTO”) Members laid out several key principles for determining the customs value of imported goods in the 1995 Customs Valuation Agreement (“CV Agreement”) with the aim of ensuring that the value of Members’ tariff concessions would not be nullified or undermined. Nonetheless, the WTO is â incorrectly â seldomly considered as a relevant forum for addressing customs valuation issues. This blog post highlights two avenues at the WTO for dealing with customs…