Global trade rules today are more dynamic and complex than ever, touching most aspects of the cross-border movement of products, services, investments, data, technology, and intellectual property. WilmerHale’s International Trade, Investment and Market Access team helps clients use these rules to their advantage and manage compliance risks.
Our practice group spans virtually every area of international trade, including trade remedies and related litigation, sanctions and export controls, investment treaty planning and arbitration, supply chain integrity and forced labor compliance, international trade negotiations and trade policy, and WTO and FTA dispute settlement. We provide full-service, business-focused legal, compliance, and policy advice across the full spectrum of industries and sectors, including aerospace, chemicals, information technology, natural resources extraction and processing, renewable energy, life sciences (e.g. pharmaceuticals, medical devices, biotechnology), digital trade, and financial services. Our clients include leading US and global companies, trade associations, and sovereign governments.
Clients also turn to us for geopolitical advice as they seek to understand and prepare for changes in the legal and political landscape—in the United States, the EU, China, and elsewhere—that may impact global business. US-China law and policy issues are a core strength of our practice: we help our clients track, understand, and manage legal and regulatory developments in Washington and Beijing that stem from dynamic US-China conditions.
We leverage our extensive government service and corporate experience to support our clients’ objectives. Our attorneys have held senior positions in the Office of the US Trade Representative and the US Department of Commerce; on Capitol Hill, at the US Senate Committee on Finance and the US House Committee on Ways and Means; and in leading in-house trade compliance roles.
We draw on our global network to offer seamless counseling and support across the United States, Europe, Asia, and other jurisdictions worldwide. We regularly collaborate with attorneys from complementary market-leading WilmerHale practices in areas critical to our clients’ needs, such as antitrust; congressional investigations; defense and national security; energy, environment and natural resources; Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and anti-corruption; intellectual property; international arbitration; public policy and legislative affairs; securities; and white-collar defense and investigations. Our multidisciplinary breadth and our depth of experience leave us singularly well positioned to handle the most complex and politically sensitive matters involving international trade, investment and market access.
Areas of Practice
- Trade and investment policy
- Trade remedies and enforcement, including:
- Antidumping and countervailing duties
- Section 201/safeguard duties
- Section 301 duties
- Section 232 remedies
- Multijurisdictional sanctions and export controls–related legal and compliance advice, including:
- OFAC/economic sanctions program compliance
- BIS/EAR export controls program compliance
- EU, EU Member State, and UK sanctions and export controls–related services
- China-related sanctions and export controls-related services
- US-China law and policy
- Investment treaty planning and arbitration
- Forced labor import compliance and supply chain strategy, including in relation to:
- The Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act
- Forced labor laws in Canada, the UK, and the EU
- Supply chain management and duty risk mitigation
- Market access/trade agreement compliance and enforcement
- Complex customs matters
- International trade–related due diligence for mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, and trade financing
- Legislative and regulatory advocacy
- Risk assessments, compliance reviews and compliance program implementation
- Internal investigations and voluntary self-disclosures
- Trade-related congressional investigations
- International air transport agreements/Open Skies
- World Trade Organization (WTO) and free trade agreement (FTA) dispute settlement