Discretely assist companies and boards of directors conducting internal audits and investigations.
International Trade & National Security Law Firm
At Torres Trade Law, we work with U.S. and international clients - from multinationals and Fortune 500 companies to medium-sized businesses and startups - to successfully import and export goods, technology, and services. We regularly assist clients navigate regulatory challenges posed by U.S. and foreign trade policies, including China tariffs, Iran sanctions, and the export of defense-related goods and controlled or emerging technologies.
In addition, our lawyers have extensive experience assisting clients with a wide range of foreign investment matters, including the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) administering the Foreign Investment Risk Review Modernization Act of 2018 (FIRRMA).
Our lawyers regularly guide clients through myriad U.S. regulatory regimes and agencies that govern trade with the United States, including:
- U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP)
- The U.S. Department of Commerce Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS)
- The U.S. Department of State Directorate of Defense Trade Controls (DDTC)
- U.S. Department of the Treasury Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC)
- The Department of Defense Security Service (DSS)
- The Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States
To assist clients with challenges across the world, Torres Trade Law is a member of two widely recognized international associations: the International Lawyers Network, a global law firm network of more than 90 law firms in 67 countries; and Alliott Group, the world's 6th largest multidisciplinary alliance of accounting and law firms. These associations allow the firm to combine local expertise with a global reach to provide clients effective cross-border solutions.
To assist with risk advisory, complex investigations, and risk intelligence, our law firm's network also includes former intelligence officers and former senior leadership in national U.S. government security positions.
PRACTICE AREAS
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Our Approach
Torres Trade Law is driven by the principle that our clients are best served by long-term relationships built on transparency, accountability, and cost-effectiveness. Our goal: to provide practical, real-world international trade advice based on an in-depth understanding of each client's strategic and business objectives coupled with comprehensive knowledge of the regulatory and competitive environments in which it does business.
We have extensive experience assisting companies in a variety of industries, including aerospace, defense contractors, commercial aviation, military electronics, chemicals and pharmaceuticals, medical equipment, food and beverage, data processing, machine tools, commercial electronics, satellite, unmanned vehicles, software and hi-tech, fashion and retail, private equity, and many others.
INSIGHTS
BIS Tightens Export Control Enforcement
By: By Olga Torres, Managing Member
Date: 09/24/2024
The U.S. Department of Commerce's Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) just issued a significant rule change that reshapes the landscape of export control enforcement.
Application of the Substantial Transformation Principle in the Context of U.S. Sanctions
By: By Camille Edwards, Associate
Date: 09/24/2024
The practice of determining an item’s country of origin (“COO”) and utilizing the principal of “substantial transformation” to help make this determination is likely a familiar concept for many U.S. importers in the context of compliance with U.S. Customs regulations. However, the principal of substantial transformation is also recognized by the U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control (“OFAC”) as being applicable in the somewhat unique context of U.S.
Noteworthy FCPA Enforcement Developments
By: By Olga Torres, Managing Member
Date: 09/24/2024
The Department of Justice really wants violators of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) to come forward: following a January 2023 revision of its Corporate Enforcement Policy that incentivized voluntary self-disclosure, the agency launched a DOJ whistleblower reward pilot program on March 24, 2024.
Recent Actions Set Up Frightful Fall for Some Importers of Chinese-Origin Goods
By: By Derrick Kyle, Senior Associate
Date: 09/24/2024
Just in time for Spooky Season, the Biden Administration announced executive actions related to the much used – and much lamented, depending on who you ask – de minimis exemption, which allows shipments valued at $800 or less to enter the United States duty-free and with reduced information requirements. Among other changes, the executive actions propose to remove de minimis treatment for merchandise subject to Section 301 Chinese-origin goods.
Treasury Announces CFIUS Enforcement Blitz
Date: 08/15/2024
On August 14, 2024, the Department of the Treasury (“Treasury”) announced in a press release a revamped Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (“CFIUS” or “the Committee”) enforcement webpage. Among other updates, the webpage provides information about six CFIUS penalty actions from 2023 and 2024. For the past several years, CFIUS’s webpage only included two enforcement actions, one from 2018 and another in 2019. The lack of enforcement action likely gave the casual observer the impression that the Committee was not actively enforcing the CFIUS regulations. Now, the Treasury press release touts, “In 2023 and to date in 2024, CFIUS has issued three times more penalties than it had in the previous nearly 50-years since its establishment.”
The Corporate Transparency Act: Treasury’s New Back Door for Finding CFIUS Non-Notified Transactions
By: Derrick Kyle, Senior Associate
Date: 07/26/2024
Much has been written about the Corporate Transparency Act (“CTA”), which was enacted on January 1, 2021, and went into effect on January 1, 2024. Briefly, the CTA requires “reporting companies” to disclose beneficial ownership information (“BOI”) to the federal government. A perhaps overlooked effect of the CTA’s BOI reporting rule is its potential impact on the Department of the Treasury’s continual search for foreign investment transactions that were not notified to the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (“CFIUS” or “the Committee”).