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US: Navigating Global Supply Chain Uncertainty: Force Majeure and Other Doctrines that May Excuse Contractual Performance

By 10 Mins Read

In brief Following the US administration’s extensive new import tariffs, many companies are grappling with increased costs and supply chain uncertainty. What happens when a deal becomes financially unsustainable due to government-imposed trade restrictions? Companies should consider the force majeure and change management clauses in their contracts, and the doctrines of impossibility, impracticability and frustration of purpose under applicable statutes and the common law, to assess whether they are entitled to relief. This article examines these…

UK: Government launches consultation into potential retaliatory tariffs against the US

By , and 2 Mins Read

On 3 April 2025, the UK Government published a consultation on the impact of any future tariffs on UK imports from the US. The consultation followed an announcement by the UK Trade Secretary in Parliament that the UK Government is considering “every option” in response to US President Trump’s imposition of “Liberation Day” import tariffs on the UK of 10%. For further details regarding the announcement of these tariffs and the global impact, please see our blog…

Trump’s “Liberation Day” Tariffs Announced

By , , , , , , , and 3 Mins Read

At 4 PM EDT on April 2, 2025, President Trump announced his reciprocal tariffs on all imports into the United States. Importantly, goods from Canada and Mexico were excluded from additional duties. Other announced rates include: United Kingdom (10%), EU (20%), China (34%), Vietnam (46%), Taiwan (32%), South Africa (30%), Japan (24%), India (26%), South Korea (25%), and Brazil (10%). While the White House Fact Sheet and Executive Order have been released, official documents referenced…

EU: First package of retaliatory tariffs delayed to 15 April

By , , , , and 1 Min Read

Yesterday, following the adoption of Commission implementing Regulation (EU) 2025/664, the European Commission has extended the ongoing suspension of retaliatory tariffs until 14 April 2025. These tariffs were initially adopted in 2018 (Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2018/886) and 2020 (Implementing regulation – 2020/502 – EN – EUR-Lex) and were supposed to reapply and come into effect tomorrow. This decision was already announced by the EU trade commissioner during a hearing at the European Parliament on…

The impact of tariffs on the life sciences industry

By , , and 9 Mins Read

Import tariffs have become the priority trade issue since President Donald Trump took office on January 20, 2025, with a wide variety of measures announced and imposed. These tariffs have the potential to disrupt all industries; however, they pose unique challenges for the life sciences industry, in particular the pharmaceutical and medtech industry, whose products have typically not been subject to customs duty on cross-border movements. We have set out below i) a summary of…

US-Tariffs on China Go into Effect; China Responds

By , , , and 2 Mins Read

US tariffs on imports of Chinese-origin products went into effect at 12.01am ET on February 4, 2025, with 10% duties being imposed on all imports of Chinese-origin goods. The executive order implementing the tariffs directs that in addition to imposing 10% tariffs on all goods of Chinese origin, low-value shipments of Chinese-origin goods are no longer eligible for duty-free entry under Section 321 of the Tariff Act of 1930 (19 USC 1321), significantly impacting e-commerce…

Trump Tariffs – Further Updates from Mexico – Tariffs on Pause

By , and 1 Min Read

At the time of the publication of this blog post on February 3, 2025, the duties on Mexican products have been paused. Stay tuned for updates and insights and practical tips for trade between the United States and Mexico. On February 3, 2025, minutes before the Mexican President’s daily press conference, Claudia Sheinbaum, President of Mexico, and Donald Trump, President of the United States, held a telephone conference whereby they agreed to pause, for one…

Trump Tariffs – Further Updates from Canada

By , and 14 Mins Read

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…

How Canadian businesses can prepare for tit-for-tat tariffs in 2025

By and 7 Mins Read

This is not Canada’s first rodeo with an America-first, U.S. presidential administration. The President-elect’s recent announcement of 25% tariffs on “all” Canadian (and Mexican) imports echoes of 2018, where in his first term, President Trump applied 25% tariffs on Canadian-origin steel and aluminum products (2018 Tariffs). In response, Canada applied countermeasures targeting U.S. origin steel and aluminum and a range of U.S. origin goods. In this article we examine lessons from the tit-for-tat tariffs applied…