SECTION 337/ITC UPDATE PROPOSALS

China, Section 337, and Mitigating Unfair Trade Practices

November 8, 2023 3:30pm

Rob Atkinson
President
Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF)

Dax Terrill
Branch Chief, Exclusion Order Enforcement
U.S. Customs and Border Protection

Over the past decade, there have been several proposed tweaks to Section 337, or the ITC more generally, to address alleged non-practicing entity abuse of the ITC or alleged unfair trade practices implemented by China. What can be added to the Section 337 toolkit to reinvigorate its power to squelch unfair Chinese trade actions?

  • Needed updates around forced technology transfers, closed domestic markets, subsidies, and other unfair China trade practice
  • Section 337’s critical “injury” standard: Should it be removed?
  • Legal standard reductions for winning cases against non-market, non-rule of law economies
    • “Rebuttable presumption” being applied to unfair trade practices from non-market, non-rule-of-law countries: Shift burden of proof to Chinese firms facing a 337 exclusion order