David C. Smith

Special Counsel

Phone number
(202) 342-8637

In international trade matters, understanding your options—and turning them into strategic actions—is critical to success. With decades of trade experience, David Smith’s clients rely on him for exactly that approach on a wide range of international trade and customs matters.

David maintains a special focus on unfair trade investigations under antidumping and countervailing duty laws. He represents domestic producers in unfair trade practice administrative proceedings before the U.S. Department of Commerce, ITC, and Trade Representative’s Office. He also helps on a variety of issues involving the U.S. Customs and Border Protection Services.

In addition, David represents his clients in appellate proceedings before the Court of International Trade and the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.

Clients also turn to David for general legal advice on a variety of other international trade matters, including trade remedy laws, the applicability of tariff preference programs, and matters before the U.S. Customs and Border Protection Service. He advises on World Trade Organization rules, procedures and dispute settlements, most favored nation treatment, and international trade policy, negotiations, and legislation.

In addition to his law practice, David is Executive Director of Kelley Drye’s economic consulting and data analytics subsidiary, Georgetown Economic Services.

“I focus on knowing as much as possible about the products my clients create so I can offer responsive solutions grounded in their market realities.”

David has represented domestic producers of a wide array of manufactured and farmed goods, including carbon and alloy steel, stainless steel, large power transformers, polyester staple fibers, PET resin, pasta, garlic and fresh salmon. David has successfully prosecuted antidumping and countervailing duty proceedings on these articles before the Commerce Department and International Trade Commission.

Unfair trade orders, once imposed, can remain in existence for decades, requiring vigilance and consistent efforts to maintain duty rates and strict enforcement by the Commerce Department and Customs and Border Protection. David has represented these industries in myriad proceedings related to maintenance and enforcement of antidumping and countervailing duty orders, such as scope inquiries, changed circumstance reviews, annual administrative reviews, circumvention and evasion investigations, enforcement seminars and five-year ​“sunset” reviews. David also handles the many appeals of these matters to the Court of International Trade and the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.

In recent years, 360-degree representation of domestic producers requires persistence and watchfulness in identifying and preventing the circumvention and evasion of antidumping and countervailing duty orders, once they are imposed. David has developed quantitative techniques to uncover circumvention and evasion of unfair trade orders, and has represented numerous domestic industries before Commerce and Customs and Border Protection to prevent circumvention and evasion of unfair trade orders.

International Trade Bar Association