John B. Brew

Overview

When governments impose barriers to trade that restrict global supply chains, our team provides businesses timely, practical, and creative solutions through legal, political, and economic strategies to eliminate obstacles, reduce costs, and minimize the harm caused.

John Brew is the former chair of Crowell & Moring’s International Trade Group and a partner in the firm’s Washington, D.C. office.

John has extensive experience in import and export trade regulation, collaborating with corporations, trade associations, foreign governments, and nongovernmental organizations on customs administration, enforcement, compliance litigation, legislation, and policy matters. He represents clients in proceedings at the administrative and judicial levels as well as before Congress and the international bureaucracies that handle customs and trade matters. John advises clients on all substantive import regulatory issues handled by U.S. Customs and Border Protection and Immigration and Customs Enforcement, such as classification, valuation, origin, marking, tariff preference programs, other agency regulations, admissibility, customs brokerage, Section 321, drawback, foreign trade zones, duty recovery programs, import restrictions, quotas, audits, prior disclosures, penalties, investigations, Customs Trade Partnership Against Terrorism and trade compliance programs, importations under bond, the Jones Act, and vessel repairs.

John has assisted clients in a broad array of industries (automotive, aerospace, chemical, e-commerce, energy, pharmaceutical, petroleum, textile, apparel and footwear, food and beverage, agricultural, machinery, equipment, electronics, and household goods), providing creative solutions that enable clients to obtain significant duty savings and mitigate draconian customs penalties.

John’s practice also includes representation of clients in other international trade areas, such as human rights (forced labor, withhold release orders, the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act, modern slavery, and supply chain due diligence); export controls; sanctions; market access; World Trade Organization–related matters; bilateral, multilateral, and regional trade agreements; the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act; anti-boycott, anti-dumping, and countervailing duty actions; short supply proceedings; Sections 201, 232, 301, and 337; and other import relief actions.

John has been recognized by Chambers USA in the area of International Trade: Customs; Chambers Global in the area of International Trade, U.S.; The Best Lawyers in America in the area of International Trade and Finance Law; Who’s Who Legal in the area of Trade and Customs; and Super Lawyers in the area of International, and he won the 2020 Client Choice Award for International Trade in the United States.

John Brew is the former chair of Crowell & Moring’s International Trade Group and a partner in the firm’s Washington, D.C. office.

John has extensive experience in import and export trade regulation, collaborating with corporations, trade associations, foreign governments, and nongovernmental organizations on customs administration, enforcement, compliance litigation, legislation, and policy matters. He represents clients in proceedings at the administrative and judicial levels as well as before Congress and the international bureaucracies that handle customs and trade matters. John advises clients on all substantive import regulatory issues handled by U.S. Customs and Border Protection and Immigration and Customs Enforcement, such as classification, valuation, origin, marking, tariff preference programs, other agency regulations, admissibility, customs brokerage, Section 321, drawback, foreign trade zones, duty recovery programs, import restrictions, quotas, audits, prior disclosures, penalties, investigations, Customs Trade Partnership Against Terrorism and trade compliance programs, importations under bond, the Jones Act, and vessel repairs.

John has assisted clients in a broad array of industries (automotive, aerospace, chemical, e-commerce, energy, pharmaceutical, petroleum, textile, apparel and footwear, food and beverage, agricultural, machinery, equipment, electronics, and household goods), providing creative solutions that enable clients to obtain significant duty savings and mitigate draconian customs penalties.

John’s practice also includes representation of clients in other international trade areas, such as human rights (forced labor, withhold release orders, the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act, modern slavery, and supply chain due diligence); export controls; sanctions; market access; World Trade Organization–related matters; bilateral, multilateral, and regional trade agreements; the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act; anti-boycott, anti-dumping, and countervailing duty actions; short supply proceedings; Sections 201, 232, 301, and 337; and other import relief actions.

John has been recognized by Chambers USA in the area of International Trade: Customs; Chambers Global in the area of International Trade, U.S.; The Best Lawyers in America in the area of International Trade and Finance Law; Who’s Who Legal in the area of Trade and Customs; and Super Lawyers in the area of International, and he won the 2020 Client Choice Award for International Trade in the United States.

Career & Education

City of London Polytechnic, 1983
Bucknell University, B.A., 1985
The Dickinson School of Law, J.D., staff editor, Dickinson Law Review, 1988
- City of London Polytechnic, 1983
- Bucknell University, B.A., 1985
- The Dickinson School of Law, J.D., staff editor, Dickinson Law Review, 1988
District of Columbia
Pennsylvania
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit
U.S. Court of International Trade
- District of Columbia
- Pennsylvania
- U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit
- U.S. Court of International Trade

He is extremely knowledgeable, technically strong and able to think outside the box.

— Chambers USA

John's Insights

Blog Post | 04.04.25

First Suit Against Trump IEEPA Tariffs Filed in Florida

Firm News | 3 min read | 02.18.25
Chambers Ranks Crowell & Moring Practices and Lawyers in 2025 Global Guide
Blog Post | 02.11.25
White House Updates Section 232 Tariffs on Steel, Aluminum
Blog Post | 02.07.25
White House Amends Feb 1st Executive Order, Temporarily Reinstates De Minimis Eligibility for China-Origin Goods

View All Insights

Representative Matters

Assisting clients in implementing global duty recovery programs, obtaining significant duty refunds and savings by obtaining relief through Section 201, 232 and 301 tariff exclusions, Miscellaneous Tariff Bills, tariff engineering, first sale valuation, free trade agreements, tariff remission, antidumping reviews, drawback and free trade zones.
Helping clients establish import compliance and cargo security programs and become C-TPAT and ISA members.
Representing a home textile manufacturer in a favorable classification decision before Customs, the U.S. Court of International Trade and the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, and advising the company on multilateral and bilateral textile agreements.
Counseling U.S. importers on Customs valuation issues, including audits, intracompany transfer pricing, three-tiered transactions, buying agency agreements and assists.
Advising U.S. importers and exporters of aviation, automobile, food, beverage, chemical, construction, pharmaceutical, plastic, textile, apparel, and petroleum products during NAFTA verifications conducted by United States, Canadian and Mexican Customs officials, and advising multi-national clients on other free trade agreement origin verifications in the United States, EU and Asia.
Defending U.S. importers and manufacturers against Customs penalty, liquidated damages, detention, seizure, and forfeiture actions, including obtaining dismissal of $5 million Customs penalty claim against importer by the U.S. Court of International Trade.