Tariffs will be the topic of a presentation by a National Foreign Trade Council executive at the International Fastener Expo.

Vanessa Sciarra, vice president for legal affairs and trade & investment policy at NFTC, will speak at the 3:30pm conference session on Tuesday October 30 at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas.

Sciarra also has been VP of the Emergency Committee for American Trade and handled international trade matters for a private law firm. She was U.S. Trade Representative assistant general counsel where she negotiated on the North American Free Trade Agreement and General Agreement on Trade Services.

Sciarra has been a U.S. Dept. of Justice trial attorney representing the U.S. government in antidumping and countervailing duty laws, customs matters, and government contracts. She briefed and argued cases before the U.S. Court of International Trade, the U.S. Court of Federal Claims and the U.S. Court of Appeals. 

Sciarra holds a Yale summa cum laude bachelors degree and law degree and masters in international economics from London School of Economics.

In July an immediate 10% tariff on $34 billion worth of imported goods from China was implemented and another $16 billion the following week. The tariffs focused on 818 Chinese products that contained “industrially significant technologies.”

Weeks later another list containing 6,031 more products was released that taxed an additional $200 billion worth of imported goods.

By the end of 2018, total taxed imported goods could total $500 billion. In January 2019, the 10% tariff will increase to 25%.

Sciarra’s presentation includes how current trade policy may affect businesses and strategies for managing the new trade restrictions and what to expect in 2019.

Topics will include: Section 301 tariffs on Chinese imports; Section 232 tariffs on steel and aluminum imports; strategies for minimizing supply chain disruptions and managing the impact of new trade restrictions; quotas: exclusions and the process to obtain an exclusion; what countries are exempted; WTO challenges to tariffs; and NAFTA changes. Web: nftc.org

IFE projects 850 suppliers and more than 5,000 attendees from 30+ nations for the October 30 – November 1, 2018, trade show. Web: FastenerShows.com

IFE, formerly the National Industrial Fastener Show, was acquired by Emerald Expositions in 2015. Emerald operates 55 B2B trade shows. Web: EmeraldExpositions.com