Thomas J. Trendl is a partner in Steptoe's Washington office, where he is a member of the firm’s International Trade Department.

International Law & Trade
Mr. Trendl has extensive experience advising and advocating on behalf of both foreign and domestic clients on regulatory and appellate international trade matters. His practice focuses on antidumping and countervailing duty investigations, reviews and appeals; customs classification, country of origin, and valuation rulings; Generalized System of Preferences requests and oppositions; World Trade Organization Agreements and North American Free Trade Agreement interpretations; Section 332 trade and competitiveness studies; and Section 201 “safeguard” investigations.

Mr. Trendl regularly practices before the Department of Commerce, International Trade Commission, US Trade Representative, US Customs & Border Protection, Court of International Trade, and Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. His cases have encompassed a wide variety of manufacturing and agricultural industries including: refrigerators, wood flooring, wooden bedroom furniture, sodium and potassium phosphate salts, antifriction bearings, lined paper products, wheat, uranium, numerous steel products, thermal transfer ribbon, lamb, beef, computer components, ceramic tile, salmon, live swine, and snowboard/skateboard apparel. Mr. Trendl has represented clients in Australia, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Korea, Norway, Sweden, and the United States.

Antidumping & Countervailing Duty Actions

Over the last 24 years, Mr. Trendl has represented clients in numerous antidumping and countervailing duty investigations and administrative reviews. Mr. Trendl counsels clients on how to most effectively implement company trade strategies in the context of international trade law, advises clients on the requirements and procedures of US trade law, assists clients on complying with these laws and responding to US government agency requests for information, and advocates on behalf of clients before the relevant agencies and courts. He has led dozens of successful verifications for clients across the globe. He recently won a significant victory at the US International Trade Commission, securing a unanimous vote of “no material injury” in the investigation of Bottom Mount Combination Refrigerator-Freezers From Korea and Mexico.

This work has included both market and non-market economy (NME) cases for large multinationals and privately held companies. With regard to NME antidumping cases, Mr. Trendl represented the a major exporter of Multilayered Wood Flooring, the largest Chinese mandatory respondent in the complex Wooden Bedroom Furniture investigation, the largest mandatory respondent in the first administrative review of Wooden Bedroom Furniture, several "Separate Rate" respondents in the Lined Paper Products investigation, and has assisted US importers on related issues in numerous cases. In doing so, Mr. Trendl has been at the forefront of issues affecting Chinese companies, including changes to DOC practice in valuing Market Economy Purchases (MEP), surrogate value methodologies and separate rate applications.