The U.S. Trade Representative's report justifying President Donald Trump's latest round of global tariffs based on imports produced with forced labor should prove insufficient, counsel for small businesses told a panel of U.S. Court of International Trade judges during oral arguments Wednesday.
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International Trade
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 1, 2026 Law360 iOS App Law360 Android App Follow Law360 on Facebook Follow Law360 on LinkedIn Follow Law360 on Twitter

TOP NEWS

Trump's Rationale On Forced Labor Tariffs Misses, CIT Told

By Dylan Moroses

The U.S. Trade Representative's report justifying President Donald Trump's latest round of global tariffs based on imports produced with forced labor should prove insufficient, counsel for small businesses told a panel of U.S. Court of International Trade judges during oral arguments Wednesday.

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Crocs Takes ITC Appeal Timing Issue To Supreme Court

By Adam Lidgett

Crocs Inc. wants the U.S. Supreme Court to take a look at when a federal agency's ruling becomes appealable, after the Federal Circuit found the clogs maker was too late in challenging a mixed U.S. International Trade Commission trademark ruling that generated two appeal deadlines.

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Trump Says S. Korea Investing $54B In Alaska Gas Pipeline

By Jack McLoone

South Korea will invest about $200 billion in various U.S. energy projects, including $54 billion for a long-awaited Alaska liquid natural gas pipeline, as part of a deal trading investments in the U.S. for preferential tariff treatment, President Donald Trump announced Wednesday.

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POLICY & REGULATION

Brief

International Group Agrees To Tackle Excess Steel Capcity

By Dylan Moroses

The U.S., 31 other countries and the European Union agreed Wednesday to coordinate and strengthen trade measures against global excess steel capacity, according to a statement issued by the U.S. Trade Representative.

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INVESTIGATIONS & REVIEWS

Brief

Chinese Truck Beds Face Early Antidumping Duty Rates

By Jack McLoone

Truck bed covers imported from China into the U.S. are facing possible triple-digit duties, the U.S. Department of Commerce said Wednesday, finding they are being sold at less than fair value.

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Brief

Commerce Finds Chinese, Indian Electrodes Being Stockpiled

By Jack McLoone

Imports of electrodes used for smelting from India appear to have surged in response to the opening of a countervailing duty investigation, the U.S. Department of Commerce preliminarily found Wednesday, setting up possible retroactive duties on the goods.

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Brief

Compressors From 3 Countries Facing Countervailing Duties

By Jack McLoone

Air compressors imported from China, Malaysia and Vietnam into the U.S. are benefiting from government subsidies, the U.S. Department of Commerce preliminarily determined Wednesday, setting up possible countervailing duties.

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LITIGATION

DC Circ. Unsure Annulled $40M Award Is 'Repugnant'

By Nadia Dreid

The D.C. Circuit is set to decide whether it was "repugnant" of a Swedish court to retroactively cancel an arbitration agreement after a $40 million award had already been won, based on a finding that European Union law didn't allow it.

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PR Rebar Cos. Can't Duck Price-Fixing Claims

By Bryan Koenig

A Puerto Rico federal judge refused Wednesday to let steel rebar companies and one of their executives duck price-fixing claims from construction companies and consumers, citing instant messages discussing the alleged scheme and rejecting arguments that the island hasn't expressly allowed antitrust allegations from indirect buyers.

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Ex-HSBC Exec Tells Jury Huawei CFO Vouched For Iran Biz

By Stewart Bishop

A former HSBC executive on Wednesday testified in the racketeering trial of Huawei and three subsidiaries that he thought the Chinese telecommunications firm's business dealings in Iran were aboveboard, following assurances during a 2013 meeting from Huawei's chief financial officer.

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Joby Air Taxi Trade Secrets Suit Against Archer Trimmed

By Linda Chiem

A California federal judge has cleared Joby Aviation to advance a slimmed-down lawsuit alleging rival electric air-taxi developer Archer Aviation misappropriated its trade secrets, but again rejected Archer's counterclaims alleging Joby unfairly jockeyed for government contracts and concealed its pervasive China ties.

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NJ Co. Says PPE Stockpiling Was Chinese Sovereign Activity

By Carolina Bolado

A New Jersey company accused of helping China hoard personal protective equipment to create a monopoly at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic told the Eleventh Circuit that a lower court erred in finding that the allegations fall within the commercial activity exception to sovereign immunity.

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EXPERT ANALYSIS

AI Meeting Recaps Pose New Discovery And Privilege Risks

The New York City Bar Association’s recent ethics opinion, cautioning attorneys not to record nonclient conversations with artificial intelligence tools, reflects an emerging view that AI meeting recaps are now a distinct business record category, meaning counsel should set meeting-level controls and apply framework-level updates, says William Wright at Faegre Drinker.

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LEGAL INDUSTRY

The Law360 Pulse Prestige Leaders: A Look At The Top Firms

Today's most prestigious firms attract top talent and marquee clients while posting record profits. Here's a look at the top 10 firms in this year's Law360 Pulse Prestige Leaders, a ranking of the firms that stand out for their prominence, power and distinction.

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DOJ Accuses Judges Of Ethics Violations With Press Remarks

By Jack Karp

Several Minnesota federal judges ran afoul of their ethical obligations when they commented on President Donald Trump's immigration policies in a recent news article, the U.S. Department of Justice said in a judicial misconduct complaint filed Wednesday.

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Federal Bar Discussion Looks At Courts' Role In Regulating AI

By Bonnie Eslinger

A Federal Bar Association discussion Wednesday in California about AI and how it will be regulated in the United States prompted the Northern District's new chief judge to ask whether Congress' "inability to pass laws" will leave it to the courts "to figure out how we're going to do this."

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DOJ Atty Picked For Judgeship Probed On Fulton County Raid

By Courtney Bublé

A top U.S. Department of Justice official tapped for a federal judgeship faced questions from Democratic lawmakers on Wednesday about the department's investigation in Fulton County, Georgia, over Trump's allegations of fraud in the 2020 election.

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Texas AG Says ABA Stifling Law School Competition

By Spencer Brewer

The Texas Attorney General announced an investigation into the American Bar Association relating to alleged anticompetitive conduct in the association's accreditation of law schools, claiming Wednesday that the ABA "weaponized its accreditation authority" to push "unconstitutional racial and gender preference requirements."

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Sen. Blackburn Sues Smith For Seizing Phone Records

By James Boyle

U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn alleges in a federal complaint filed Wednesday that Jack Smith illegally subpoenaed her phone records as part of an investigation into alleged efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election.

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3rd Circ. Calls Westlaw AI Fight 'Ordinary Copyright Case'

By Ivan Moreno

The Third Circuit said the first appellate fight over artificial intelligence training and fair use ultimately came down to an "ordinary copyright case," affirming that Ross Intelligence infringed Thomson Reuters' Westlaw headnotes when it used them to train a competing legal research platform.

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Blank Rome Seeks Time To Exit LIV Golf's Fla. Office

By Ben Zigterman

Blank Rome LLP on Wednesday filed a limited objection to LIV Golf's motion to reject its sublease at an office building in West Palm Beach, Florida, saying it didn't receive any advance notice and would like until the end of October to transition to a new office.

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Roundup

Defamation Litigation Roundup: Candace Owens, Firm DQ

By Theresa Schliep

In this month's review of defamation fights, Law360 highlights a new suit over right-wing media personality Candace Owens and her conspiracy theories about the killing of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, as well as Quinn Emanuel's disqualification from a suit against a former client.

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Tort Report: Uber Owes $40M In Abandoned Rider Death Case

By Y. Peter Kang

A $40 million arbitration award in a case over an Uber incident and looming litigation against the federal government over a highly publicized U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement raid on a Hyundai-LG plant in Georgia lead Law360's Tort Report, which compiles recent personal injury and medical malpractice news that may have flown under the radar.

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Roundup

Hub Hires: Mintz, Foley Hoag, Barclay Damon

By Chris Villani

Boston saw several significant moves across its legal landscape as the summer wound down, with Foley Hoag adding an experienced debt finance attorney from Goodwin Procter, a boutique white collar firm snagging a longtime federal prosecutor, and Mintz getting new leadership for the first time in nearly two decades.

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Dark blue promo that reads 2026 Regional Powerhouses dark blue promo that reads 2026 Rising Stars

LAW FIRMS IN TODAY'S NEWS

Akin Gump

Arnold & Porter

Barclay Damon

Berman Law Group

Blank Rome

Cancio Covas

Cole Schotz

DLA Piper

Davis Polk

Don Bivens PLLC

Dunn Isaacson Rhee

Eversheds Sutherland

Faegre Drinker

Foley Hoag

Gibson Dunn

Goodwin Procter

Harris Beach Murtha

Jenner & Block

Kirkland & Ellis

Latham & Watkins

Litson PLLC

Littler Mendelson

Milberg PLLC

Mintz Levin

Paul Weiss

Peabody & Arnold

Pietrantoni Mendez

Pillsbury Winthrop

Quinn Emanuel

Selendy Gay

Sepulvado Maldonado

Sidley Austin

Simpson Thacher & Bartlett

Skadden Arps

Steptoe LLP

Sullivan & Cromwell

Torridon Law

Wachtell Lipton

Weil Gotshal

White & Case

WilmerHale

Wolf Haldenstein

COMPANIES IN TODAY'S NEWS

American Bar Association

Anthropic PBC

Archer Aviation Inc.

BC Partners

Crocs Inc.

Federal Bar Association

Financial Industry Regulatory Authority Inc.

Fortis Advisors LLC

Futurewei Technologies Inc.

Glenfarne Group LLC

Google LLC

HSBC Holdings PLC

Halstead International Inc.

Hobby Lobby Stores

Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd.

Joby Aero Inc

Krafton

Learning Resources Inc.

Los Angeles Dodgers

MRO Corp.

Mercuria Energy Group Ltd.

Microsoft Corp.

New Civil Liberties Alliance

New York City Bar Association

Nickelodeon Global Network Ventures Inc.

OpenAI OpCo LLC

PetroChina Company Limited

Sharp HealthCare

Sovereign Arbitration Advisors LLC

Techtronic Industries Co. Ltd.

The New York Times Co.

Thomson Reuters Corp.

ThyssenKrupp AG

Twitter Inc.

U.S. Energy Corp.

Uber Technologies Inc.

V2X Inc.

Warner Bros. Discovery Inc.

GOVERNMENT AGENCIES IN TODAY'S NEWS

Delaware Court of Chancery

European Commission

European Union

Federal Bureau of Investigation

International Trade Administration

International Trade Commission

Los Angeles Superior Court

NATO

National Labor Relations Board

Office of Foreign Assets Control

Texas Attorney General's Office

Texas Supreme Court

U.S. Air Force

U.S. Attorney's Office

U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of New York

U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of New Jersey

U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit

U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit

U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit

U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit

U.S. Customs and Border Protection

U.S. Department of Commerce

U.S. Department of Education

U.S. Department of Homeland Security

U.S. Department of Justice

U.S. Department of the Treasury

U.S. District Court for the Central District of Illinois

U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia

U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota

U.S. District Court for the District of Puerto Rico

U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana

U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan

U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York

U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida

U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee

U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California

U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York

U.S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri

U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas

U.S. House of Representatives

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement

U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission

U.S. Senate

U.S. Supreme Court

United States District Court for the District of Colorado

United States District Court for the District of Utah