Insights

On June 2, 2025, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (“CBP”) issued its first ever Withhold Release Order (“WRO”) and Finding Modifications Guide (“Guide” or “the Guide”). The Guide serves as a roadmap for importers facing a possible WRO or Finding due to allegations of forced labor in the supply chain of their goods imported into the U.S. It provides guidance on information to be included in a modification petition, identifies possible cases in which CBP might request additional information, and provides resources for importers facing a WRO or Finding.

To date the Trump Administration has issued multiple proclamations imposing varying rates of import duties on steel and aluminum and certain derivatives, including construction materials. These measures have added volatility and financial pressures to the construction sector both in the United States and abroad. Most recently, on June 3, 2025, President Donald Trump issued a proclamation under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962, doubling tariffs on imported steel and aluminum from 25% to 50%, effective June 4, 2025. This action aims to counteract the continued influx of lower-priced, excess steel and aluminum imports that, according to the administration, threaten U.S. national security by undermining domestic production capacity. The proclamation notes that while prior tariffs provided some price support, they were insufficient to achieve the necessary capacity utilization rates for sustained industry health and defense readiness. The United Kingdom remains temporarily exempt at the 25% rate until July 9, per the U.S.-U.K. Economic Prosperity Deal.

On May 23, 2025, the U.S. Departments of State (“State”) and the Treasury (“Treasury”) took actions that resulted in immediate sanctions relief for Syria. Specifically, Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (“OFAC”) issued General License 25 (“GL 25”) pursuant to the Syrian Sanctions Regulations (“SySR”), the Weapons of Mass Destruction Proliferators Sanctions Regulations (“NPWMD”), the Iranian Financial Sanctions Regulations (“IFSR”), the Global Terrorism Sanctions Regulations (“GTSR”), and the Foreign Terrorist Organization Sanctions Regulations (“FTOSR”). In parallel, Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (“FinCEN”) and State took supporting actions outlined below.

On May 13, 2025, the Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) formally rescinded the Framework for Artificial Intelligence Diffusion interim final rule published by the Biden Administration, on the basis that it stifled innovation, was overly complex, and undermined U.S. diplomatic relations.

In a May 12, 2025 speech that signaled both a recalibration of and recommitment to prosecuting white-collar crime, Matthew R. Galeotti, the newly appointed Head of the Department of Justice’s Criminal Division, said that the Division is “turning a new page” and embracing an enforcement approach that aims to elevate efficiency, predictability, and fairness. The changes he outlined aim to incentivize self-reporting, narrow corporate monitorships, and refocus whistleblowers.

This news bulletin is provided by the International Trade Group of Crowell & Moring. If you have questions or need assistance on trade law matters, please contact Jana del-Cerro, Anand Sithian, or Simeon Yerokun or any member of the International Trade Group.

In a recently published Corporate Counsel article, “Conducting Investigations and Discovery in China: What Companies Need to Consider in Preparing for New Policies,” Crowell’s John E. Davis and the Zhong Lun Law Firm’s Gary Gao (Jun Gao) discuss the need for companies with operations and data in China to prepare for increased governmental scrutiny and civil actions, and provide tips for effectively responding to cross-border demands for data in such pressurized circumstances.

Since December of last year, the status of the CTA has been in a state of perpetual flux, following a dizzying series of federal court rulings and FinCEN announcements. On February 28, 2025, we reported that FinCEN paused enforcement actions for entities required to report under the CTA’s Beneficial Ownership Information Reporting Rule (BOI Rule) until FinCEN issued an interim final rule providing new guidance regarding the BOI Rule’s requirements and associated deadlines. Then, on March 2, 2025, Treasury went a step further, indicating that it would altogether cease enforcement against U.S. citizens and domestic reporting companies for violations of the BOI Rule, explaining that it would instead issue proposed rulemaking to narrow the scope of the BOI Rule to “foreign reporting companies” only and set new reporting deadlines. 

On February 26, the European Commission presented its Clean Industrial Deal (CID). As a follow-up to the European Green Deal, the CID aims to strengthen the competitiveness of European industry while at the same time accelerating the decarbonization of the economy.

On February 27, 2025, the Court of Justice of the European Union (“CJEU”) issued a ruling about the requirements on data controllers to respond to data access requests regarding an automated decision-making system. In particular, the CJEU interpreted the meaning (under Article 15(1)(h) GDPR) of the phrase “meaningful information about the logic involved” in automated decision-making. Importantly, the ruling also separately addressed how to balance data access rights with the protection of the controller’s trade secrets, when the protection of trade secrets is invoked under Article 15(4) as a reason not to disclose a copy of personal data in an access request.

In a business environment characterised by tremendous change and impact as a result of the new Trump Administration and the 119th Congress, it is crucial for U.K. businesses to stay informed about developments in the U.S. Crowell is focused on providing clients with timely and actionable insights that can help to inform forward-looking business priorities and strategies.

This news bulletin is provided by the International Trade Group of Crowell & Moring. If you have questions or need assistance on trade law matters, please contact Jana del-Cerro, Anand Sithian, or Simeon Yerokun or any member of the International Trade Group.

On 26 February 2025, the Commission proposed a sustainability simplifications package, commonly referred to as the Omnibus package. Among the sustainability reporting and due diligence provisions, the Omnibus package would also bring about changes to the EU’s unilateral environmental measure, the carbon border adjustment mechanism (CBAM). CBAM entered into application in its transitional phase in October 2023 and is now halfway towards its definitive implementation. The proposed deregulation brings about improvements in several CBAM areas, including scope, and reporting and procedural requirements. In this alert, we outline those suggested amendments that are likely to be of most importance to businesses involved in trading in CBAM goods.

As they have on each previous anniversary, the EU and UK released new sanctions against Russia on February 24, 2025, to mark the three-year anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. For the first time, the United States did not do the same, electing to issue a limited set of Iran-related sanctions on the anniversary instead. The EU package was more fulsome than the UK package, including new port and airport restrictions, additional trade restrictions (including an aluminium ban), enhanced military end-user restrictions, and additional asset freezes and vessel designations.

On February 28, 2025, we reported that the Department of the Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) paused enforcement actions for entities required to report under the CTA’s BOI Rule (Reporting Companies) for failure to file or update beneficial ownership information (BOI) reports by a previously-announced March 21, 2025, deadline. FinCEN had explained that the pause would last until it issued an interim final rule further updating reporting deadlines and providing new guidance around the BOI Rule’s requirements.

We previously reported that the Corporate Transparency Act’s Beneficial Ownership Information Reporting Rule (BOI Rule) was back in effect as of February 18, 2025, with a stay of the final nationwide block to enforcement. At that time, the Department of the Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) extended the BOI Rule’s reporting deadline until March 21, 2025 (in cases where the originally-applicable deadline had expired) for entities required to report, which includes certain entities formed or registered to do business in the United States (Reporting Companies). 

FY 2024 saw continued growth in False Claims Act enforcement, with a record year for new qui tam and government-initiated actions, and the highest total recovery in three years. Enforcement of pandemic-related fraud and cybersecurity noncompliance increased, and health care, procurement, and small business fraud violations were again priority areas. A groundbreaking opinion from the District Court for the Middle District of Florida may have teed up a potentially landscape-shifting decision about the viability of the qui tam mechanism in the not too distant future. And a landmark administrative law decision at the U.S. Supreme Court may impact many FCA cases to come. Significant decisions regarding retaliation, excessive fines, the first-to-file rule, and the public disclosure bar were also handed down by courts of appeals. Crowell attorneys discuss these highlights and others in a “Feature Comment” published in The Government Contractor.

On February 21, 2025, President Trump issued a National Security Policy Memorandum (“NSPM”) announcing the Administration’s “America First Investment Policy” (the “Investment Policy”)[1] affirming the United States’ commitment to open investment while safeguarding national security. Aimed at promoting investment in the United States from allied countries while imposing stricter measures on both inbound and outbound investments from “foreign adversaries,” the Investment Policy incentivizes foreign investment in the United States by announcing a “fast track” process “to facilitate greater investment from specified allied and partner sources in United States businesses involved with United States advanced technology and other important areas.” The NSPM defines “foreign adversaries” to include the People’s Republic of China (the “PRC” or “China”), including Hong Kong and Macau, Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Russia, and the Maduro regime in Venezuela.[2]