Adams Lee Attorney

If and when cannabis becomes legal to import into the U.S., there is a “high level of certainty” that a U.S. producer will complain about the fairness of the imports to the domestic industry, leading to antidumping and countervailing duty proceedings, said Adams Lee, international trade attorney at Harris Bricken, during a Dec. 1 webinar hosted by the law firm. Speaking about cannabis and international trade, Lee predicted that if imports of cannabis become legal, they will likely come from Canada — a nation that has legalized recreational marijuana — and diminish the market share of U.S.-made product.

Adams Lee elaborate on this further on Harris Sliwoski’s China Law Blog, explaining that “Trump prefers unilaterally imposing U.S. tariffs on targeted imports, while Biden prefers multilateral trade action against China that is coordinated with U.S. allies.”

Trade lawyers are closely following Bedford’s case, including Adams Lee in Harris Sliwoski’s international-trade practice, who says: “This currency manipulation subsidy is definitely more interesting than the twist-tie case itself.”

Adams Lee, international trade lawyer at Harris Bricken, there will only be more movement of companies out of China, “whether it is legitimately or illegitimately”. “A lot of companies are legitimately trying to move their production operations so they can say ‘We’re not producing a Made-in-China product’,” he said. “But others are definitely taking short cuts.”

“The UN is kind of in an awkward position. They don’t want to dilute controls on marijuana because it would be viewed by some members are diluting controls on all narcotics. It’s kind of that slippery slope argument that you see in governments that are against legalizing marijuana,” says Adams Lee, an international trade lawyer at global law firm Harris Bricken.

With the U.S.-China trade war raging — and outcomes for entertainment industries still opaque — Iger can be expected to keep his cards close until a resolution eventually arrives. “Disney has a good sense of the big picture and the small details when it comes to the China market,” says Adams Lee, an attorney specializing in trade law at Harris Bricken in Beijing. “They have probably already factored in a variety of scenarios depending on whether the U.S. and China trade war ends, escalates or maintains some variation of the current status quo.”

“China this past month initiated an antidumping investigation on sorghum grains from the US. China imported over a billion USD of sorghum in 2016,” Adams Lee, an international trade lawyer at Harris Bricken, said in an email. “If Trump imposes steel/ aluminum duties on China, I think China likely will initiate a new antidumping investigation on U.S. soybeans, which had about $12 – 13 billion exported to China.”

New restrictions in the trade relationship with China come as dozens of U.S. firms, from semiconductor design houses to mom-and-pop retailers, already fear the ripple effects of recently introduced, tit-for-tat tariffs. Indeed, businesses that pay to import component parts or other products from China are likely to see added costs that could hurt the bottom line. Meanwhile, anti-American sentiment in Beijing could take the shine off American brands such as Apple, and additional red tape from China’s government could drive out those with a physical presence abroad, analysts suggest. “Tech companies probably have the most to worry about [in a trade war],” noted Adams Lee, an attorney with the international law firm Harris Sliwoski, in a phone call with Inc. earlier this month.

The Commerce Department has an appeals process for companies to try to get off the list, but it is unclear whether that would be available to ZTE because the case had been previously subject to a settlement, according to people familiar with the matter.

Even so, ZTE would have little recourse in the near term because appeals would have to be approved by the BIS, the same agency that issued the ban.

Companies must submit appeals to a committee that would issue a ruling within 30 days, according to the agency’s website.

ZTE’s best chance would be if U.S. companies choose to lobby the Trump administration to lift the ban to save their business with ZTE, said Adams Lee, an international trade attorney at Harris Sliwoski.

In June, Anbang said its chairman, Wu Xiaohui, was no longer able to fulfill his duties. The China Insurance Regulatory Commission said in an online statement Friday that Wu has been charged with fundraising fraud and embezzlement.

“Anbang was probably taken out in a really public manner to set an example for others to step back a little bit,” said Adams Lee, an international trade lawyer at Harris Sliwoski. He’s watching to see if this is an isolated case, or if another Chinese company gets hit in another two to three months.

So far this year, investment from China has slowed due to Beijing’s efforts to limit capital outflows. Some in the U.S. federal government have also discussed increasing scrutiny on Chinese deals for security reasons, and the idea of cooperation with China may not fly in some voting districts.

But many analysts expect Chinese authorities to loosen capital controls and remain confident that Chinese money will continue to flow into the United States.

“In the end, it doesn’t matter who opens a new factory in Kentucky, South Carolina, Idaho or wherever. Someone is investing in their community,” said Adams Lee, an international trade lawyer at Harris Sliwoski. Despite a recent lull, “I think there’s going to be more Chinese investment in the U.S. across all sectors,” he said.