International Trade

Maximizing global opportunities, minimizing legal risks.

Perkins Coie's International Trade practice seeks to empower your business to navigate the complexities of international markets with confidence.

Perkins Coie’s International Trade team advises clients on international rules and U.S. laws regulating trade of goods and services, including trade remedies, customs, export controls and economic sanctions, trade-related intellectual property, and foreign investment. We represent clients in international trade negotiations and disputes, including those involving the World Trade Organization (WTO), trade policy matters, developing and implementing government affairs strategies, and lobbying U.S. and other governments. We also assist overseas companies seeking to invest and participate in U.S. markets in complying with federal, state, and local laws and treaties to which the United States is a party. We have participated in many of the most significant antidumping, countervailing duty, safeguard, and WTO dispute settlement cases to date.

Our lawyers regularly appear before agencies that regulate international trade, including the U.S. Departments of Commerce, State, and Treasury; the U.S. International Trade Commission; the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative; Customs and Border Protection (CBP); the Export-Import Bank of the United States; the Overseas Private Investment Corporation; and the World Bank. We represent clients in appeals of agency determinations to the U.S. Court of International Trade, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, and the Supreme Court of the United States, as well as in WTO Panel and Appellate Body proceedings.

Clients retain our lawyers to design and implement international regulatory compliance programs, perform internal audits and investigations, and defend against government enforcement actions. We also provide international trade due diligence counseling to clients considering mergers and acquisitions.

Our team participates in international arbitrations and other forums for dispute resolution in markets throughout the world. Perkins Coie is a member of the Interlex Group, an international network of leading law firms that cooperate to provide a complete range of international legal and business services.

We maintain fluency in several languages, including Chinese (Cantonese, Mandarin, and Shanghainese), Japanese, Spanish, German, French, Russian, Swedish, and Thai.

How we help clients

Trade remedies: antidumping, countervailing duty, and safeguard proceedings.
Customs.
Export controls, economic sanctions, and antiboycott rules.
WTO disputes and negotiations.
Trade policy in the United States and other markets.

We frequently represent

Multinational corporations.
WTO member governments.
Sovereigns.

Areas of Focus

International Trade Remedies

As tariffs and other barriers to trade decrease, companies increasingly protect their home markets by invoking trade remedies—antidumping, countervailing duty (CVD), and safeguards. Perkins Coie’s Trade Remedies team is devoted to helping these clients take advantage of trade remedy rules, both defensively and offensively. We represent U.S. and multinational companies involved in trade remedy proceedings before federal agencies, U.S. courts, and the WTO. Our team of experienced lawyers and trade professionals understands the complex laws and regulations that apply in U.S. trade investigations, as well as the underlying political and economic dynamics. We appear frequently on behalf of clients in trade litigation and related matters before the U.S. government and challenge or defend agency decisions in appeals before U.S. courts. Additionally, we offer clients the benefit of our experience representing WTO member governments and their industries in WTO challenges against U.S. and other trade remedy measures. Our team has more than 30 years of experience representing major manufacturers, importers, and exporters in administrative reviews, changed circumstance reviews, scope inquiries, and sunset reviews.

Customs & Border Protection Compliance

CBP has a lead role in developing, implementing, and administering supply chain security programs affecting all companies that import goods into the United States. Perkins Coie lawyers regularly advise clients on the Tariff Act of 1930, the Customs Modernization Act, and related customs regulations administered by CBP. We interact with CBP officials at various U.S. ports of entry and have regular contact with the Office of Regulations and Rulings and other relevant offices at CBP headquarters in Washington, D.C.

Experienced in filing protests and prior disclosures, we defend CBP investigations and audits, prepare CBP compliance policies and procedures, and provide training to company personnel responsible for implementing compliance policies and procedures. We provide a full range of counsel and representation related to:

Compliance counseling and audits.
Government investigations and proceedings.
Rules of origin.
Prior disclosures.
Trade agreements.
C-TPAT and Importer Self-Assessment.

Export Controls

Perkins Coie’s Export Control lawyers assist clients with compliance and reporting obligations under the various sanction regimes administered by the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) and the regulations of the U.S. Commerce Department’s Office of Antiboycott Compliance. Areas of emphasis and representative experience include:

International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR). Our lawyers guide on such issues as export licensing and compliance, preparing commodity jurisdiction requests, manufacturing license agreements and Technical Assistance Agreements, developing corporate ITAR compliance programs, government and internal company investigations, and voluntary and directed disclosure submissions.
Export Administration Regulation (EAR). Our lawyers counsel a broad range of clients on compliance with U.S. export control of commercial/dual-use items under EAR and have obtained numerous export licenses and product classifications from BIS.
OFAC. We counsel clients on compliance with U.S. embargoes/sanctions programs administered by OFAC, including obtaining related licenses. We develop corporate sanctions compliance programs, including prohibited party screening mechanisms, and conduct internal OFAC compliance training and audits.

Trade Policy

Our lawyers provide clients with the full range of services relating to trade policy, including strategic legal and policy advice, negotiation representation, and domestic and foreign government affairs. When necessary, we litigate on behalf of clients in national courts and international forums.

Our advice to multinational corporations, trade associations, nongovernmental organizations, and governments on the full range of trade policy matters includes: