CSUSTL is a trade association headquartered in Washington DC. Our membership consists of 429 companies and organizations representing 167 industries, agriculture,
and mining sectors. Current members have facilities/sites located in all 50 states of the nation. Member companies and organizations are situated in the congressional districts/states of 223 House Members and 100 Senators.
Read the letter which was sent by the Committee to Support US Trade Laws (CSUSTL) on 2/17/2025 to the US Department of Commerce, US Department of Homeland Security, US International Trade Commission, and Office of the United States Trade Representative asking that staff levels and the funding necessary for the enforcement of US trade remedy laws be maintained as critical employees during the government wide reduction in force. If implemented as directed by the Office of Personnel Management roughly 60% of the workforce enforcing our trade laws would be terminated. American businesses and workers across the nation will be hurt and the US government will be unable to collect tariff revenues central to the President's America First Trade Policy.
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CSUSTL is a national organization of companies, trade associations, labor unions, law firms and individuals located in all 50 states of the nation and is committed to preserving and enhancing U.S. trade laws and supporting trade policies that benefit the United States-based productive economy. CSUSTL consists of 434 companies, unions and organizations representing 171 industries, including manufacturing, technology, agriculture, mining, energy, and services. We are dedicated to ensuring that the laws against unfair trade are not weakened through legislation or policy decisions in Washington, DC, in international negotiations, or through dispute settlement at the World Trade Organization (WTO) and elsewhere.
December 2024 -- CSUSTL conducted its third and final roundtable conversation for 2024 with senior officials responsible for administering and overseeing U.S. trade policy and trade enforcement with an event featuring the acting General Counsel of the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR), Juan Millán. Millán spoke with representatives from the U.S. manufacturing, agriculture, and commercial fishing sectors in a morning session. Conversation focused on the U.S. government’s achievements in building support for the nation’s trade policy priorities with aligned trading partners, particularly with respect to developing multilateral strategies for improving labor and environmental conditions in foreign supply chains. CSUSTL will continue the annual roundtable series in 2025.
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January 2025 -- In the last Congress, the House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed the Protecting American Industry from International Trade Crimes Act (H.R. 9151), a bipartisan bill. Companies based in the People’s Republic of China (PRC) frequently commit crimes violating U.S. trade laws including fraud, duty evasion, and transshipment which benefit the PRC’s non-market economy. The legislation aims to combat these crimes by directing the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) to establish a new structure dedicated to prosecuting international trade crimes. The Committee to Support US Trade Laws (CSUSTL) strongly supports the proposed bill and is working for re-introduction of the legislation in the 119th Congress. CSUSTL’s Government Affairs Committee and Enforcement Committee are leading the organization’s 2025 advocacy effort to gain passage of the measure.
February 2025 -- The US Office of Personnel Management (OPM) and the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) are directing the multiple government agencies who enforce US trade laws to reduce the workforce by roughly 60%. CSUSTL has requested that the agencies exercise their discretionary authority to maintain existing staff and resources as critical employees stating the reduction would injure US businesses across the nation and diminish government's ability to collect the duties and tariffs central to the Administration trade policy.
How it began >
How it began >
During the late 20th century the Uruguay Round included the governments of 123 countries in negotiations to create an international organization to govern almost all trade in the world from pencils to telecommunications. It was the largest trade negotiation ever in the history of the world. Many US trading partners saw this as their opportunity to strip away the 100-year-old trade remedy laws used by the US to protect against unfair trade practices. Fair and effective the laws were viewed as an obstacle by these nations in their efforts to capture US markets by using unfair trade practices to destroy US business. Many within the US government felt we would ultimately need to sacrifice the trade laws to get a deal. In January of 1989 a small group of US companies and law firms banded together to maintain and improve these laws in the negotiations. They were called the Committee To Support US Trade Laws, or CSUSTL. In April, 1994, the final deal was signed by all 123 governments. Against overwhelming odds the group was successful in its advocacy to preserve the effectiveness of the laws, and has continued that mission ever since.
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