International Trade Bulletin - Volume 1, Issue 1
Client Alert | 2 min read | 03.20.06
Inside this issue:
- CHINA IN THE SPOTLIGHT
- EUROPE IN THE SPOTLIGHT
- DUTY RECOVERY : Many importers and manufacturers pay unnecessary duty on imported merchandise, either directly or as a cost of procured materials
- BILATERAL TRADE: The proposed U.S. – Korea FTA will be the most commercially significant FTA the U.S. has negotiated since NAFTA
- FOREIGN INVESTMENTS: New Indian investment rules allow foreign retailers to set up majority-owned stores in India – a high-growth market eyed by foreign retailers for years
- AIR TRANSPORT: Controversial U.S. DOT proposal to attract investment in the U.S. Airlines draws fire from both sides of the pond rather than hope for Open Skies
- SANCTIONS: The Office of Foreign Assets Control (“OFAC”) of the U.S. Department of the Treasury has issued an interim final rule outlining a new set of enforcement procedures
- NAFTA: NAFTA provisions on “regional value content” (RVC) calculation causes serious problems for related parties
- DUTY SUSPENSION: The Miscellaneous Tariff Bill (MTB) may be more relevant to your business than it sounds - at least if you are an importer of products that American factories do not produce domestically
- INTERNATIONAL IP PROTECTION: Elements of India’s new patent law which took effect in 2005 have prevented Novartis from obtaining a patent for its cancer drug “Gleevec”
Contacts
Insights
Client Alert | 3 min read | 11.21.25
On November 7, 2025, in Thornton v. National Academy of Sciences, No. 25-cv-2155, 2025 WL 3123732 (D.D.C. Nov. 7, 2025), the District Court for the District of Columbia dismissed a False Claims Act (FCA) retaliation complaint on the basis that the plaintiff’s allegations that he was fired after blowing the whistle on purported illegally discriminatory use of federal funding was not sufficient to support his FCA claim. This case appears to be one of the first filed, and subsequently dismissed, following Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche’s announcement of the creation of the Civil Rights Fraud Initiative on May 19, 2025, which “strongly encourages” private individuals to file lawsuits under the FCA relating to purportedly discriminatory and illegal use of federal funding for diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives in violation of Executive Order 14173, Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity (Jan. 21, 2025). In this case, the court dismissed the FCA retaliation claim and rejected the argument that an organization could violate the FCA merely by “engaging in discriminatory conduct while conducting a federally funded study.” The analysis in Thornton could be a sign of how forthcoming arguments of retaliation based on reporting allegedly fraudulent DEI activity will be analyzed in the future.
Client Alert | 3 min read | 11.20.25
Client Alert | 3 min read | 11.20.25
Client Alert | 6 min read | 11.19.25
