As international trade law has developed, there has been interplay between domestic and global trade law. Initially, international trade agreements focused on tariffs, but, over time, they have broadened to encompass aspects of domestic policymaking and establish fairly stringent dispute settlement mechanisms. This report provides an overview of the legal framework that governs trade-related measures. This framework is composed of both international agreements and domestic laws. The particular agreements and statutes selected for this report are those that are most commonly implicated by U.S. trade interests and policy. This report is not intended to be a comprehensive review of trade law. Accordingly, this report first discusses international trade agreements and then turns to domestic law. The United States has international trade obligations under (1) the World Trade Organization (WTO) agreements, which include the General Agreement on Trade and Tariffs (GATT) and other "covered agreements"; (2) its own free trade agreements; and (3) other international agreements with narrower policy goals, such as the conservation of natural resources. Each round of talks sought to liberalize new markets, lower tariffs, and identify solutions to different kinds of trade barriers. Other GATT articles may be implicated by the imposition of quantitative restrictions. Possible safeguards include quotas, tariffs, and tariff rate quotas. Used as a framework for U.S. trade agreements by the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR), the model FTA is roughly based on NAFTA and the WTO Agreements but has evolved with congressional involvement and shifting U.S. priorities. Most recently, the model FTA has evolved to include electronic commerce obligations. Whereas Congress was initially only concerned with the conditions under which an import could enter the U.S., it has, over time, used its authority over international trade to regulate virtually all areas of trade policy, including how the Executive negotiates a trade agreement, how a negotiated trade agreement can be implemented, how domestic industries can obtain "remedies" for injury resulting from import competition, and how trade sanctions can be imposed. Separation of Powers in Practice: Fast Track and Trade Remedies

The following historical overview of two commonly discussed legal issues in international trade (fast track authority and import competition) illustrates how Congress and the executive branch have exercised their constitutional authorities over aspects of trade policy in response to changing concerns. The USTR also oversees the administration of other aspects of U.S. trade law, including the Generalized System of Tariff Preferences (commonly called the GSP), which permits duty-free entry for imports from developing countries, and telecommunications reviews under Section 1377. United States International Trade Commission

The United States International Trade Commission (ITC) is an independent federal agency with broad investigative responsibilities. United States Customs and Border Protection

U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) is a part of the Department of Homeland Security. Part IV: Selected Federal Statutes Regulating International Trade

		Trade Remedy Laws

			Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974: Remedies for Violations of Trade Agreements and Other Inconsistent or Unjustifiable Foreign Trade Practices

Sections 301 through 310 of the Trade Act of 1974 (commonly referred to as "Section 301") require the USTR to impose trade sanctions on foreign countries that either (1) violate trade agreements, (2) have acts, policies, or practices that are inconsistent with a trade agreement, or (3) have acts, policies, or practices that are unjustifiable and burden U.S. commerce. Their investigations commence when an interested party files a countervailing duty petition with both ITA and the ITC alleging that an industry in the United States is materially injured or threatened by reason of the sale of subsidized imports in the United States at less than their fair value. However, sanctions, like other trade measures, must be crafted to comply with not only domestic laws but also principles of customary international law and WTO obligations.
The United States has trade obligations under multilateral trade agreements, including the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) and the other World Trade Organization (WTO) agreements, as well as bilateral and regional trade agreements. A variety of domestic laws implement these agreements, prescribe U.S. trade policy goals, or regulate international trade to achieve specific foreign policy objectives. This report provides an overview of both international and domestic trade law, focusing on a select group of international agreements and statutes that are most commonly implicated by U.S. trade interests and policy.
Historically, parties to international trade agreements were obligated to reduce two kinds of trade barriers: tariffs and non-tariff trade barriers. Whereas the former may hinder an imported product's ability to compete in a foreign market by imposing an additional cost on the product's entry into the market, the latter has the potential to bar an import from entering that market altogether by, for example, restricting the number of such imports that can enter the market or imposing prohibitively strict packaging and labeling requirements. Consequently, at their most basic, international trade agreements obligate their parties to convert at least some of their non-tariff trade barriers into tariffs, set a ceiling on the tariff rates for particular products, and then progressively reduce those rates over time. However, over time, U.S. trade agreements have become increasingly complex. The U.S. model free trade agreement now targets not only tariffs and non-tariff barriers, but also domestic policies in areas such as labor, environmental law, and electronic commerce that U.S. policymakers consider unfair trade practices. Trade agreements have also evolved to include elaborate trade dispute settlement mechanisms. As illustrated in this report, the typical international trade agreement today disciplines its parties' use of tariffs and trade barriers, authorizes its parties to use discriminatory trade measures to remedy certain unfair trade practices, and establishes a dispute settlement body.
Domestic trade laws, meanwhile, can broadly be classified as laws (1) authorizing trade remedies, including remedies for violations of trade agreements, countervailing duties for subsidized imports, and antidumping duties for imports sold at less than their normal value, (2) setting domestic tariff rates and providing special duty-free or preferential tariff treatment for certain products, and (3) authorizing the imposition of trade sanctions to protect U.S. security or achieve foreign policy goals. In addition to describing these domestic laws, this report summarizes the constitutional authorities of Congress and the executive branch over international trade. Finally, the report identifies many of the federal agencies and entities charged with overseeing the development of new trade agreements and the administration and enforcement of federal trade laws. Among the federal agencies and entities discussed are the United States Trade Representative (USTR), the International Trade Administration (ITA), the International Trade Commission (ITC), the United States Customs and Border Protection (CBP), and the United States Court of International Trade (CIT).
This report is not intended as a comprehensive review of trade law. It is an introductory overview of the legal framework governing trade-related measures. The agreements and laws selected for discussion are those most commonly implicated by U.S. trade interests, but there are U.S. trade laws and obligations beyond those reviewed in this report.