The following lawsuits were recently filed at the Court of International Trade:
The U.S., so far, has failed to appear in an appeal from a group of U.S. welded pipe manufacturers over whether the Commerce Department can make a particular market situation adjustment to the sales-below-cost test in antidumping duty cases. Per a May 6 order from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, since the U.S. has not entered an appearance, absent objection, the court will designate Turkish exporter Borusan Mannesmann as "plaintiff-appellee" and remove the appellee designation for the U.S. (Borusan Mannesmann Boru Sanayi ve Ticaret v. U.S., Fed. Cir. #22-1502).
The Court of International Trade should dismiss a case led by exporter Zhejiang Yuhua Timber Co. challenging the Commerce Department's decision to deny a scope ruling request, the U.S. argued in a May 6 reply brief. Responding to Yuhua's arguments attempting to establish jurisdiction under Section 1581(c), and in the alternative, Section 1581(i), the court's "residual" jurisdiction, DOJ argued that the decision to not start a scope inquiry is not a reviewable decision under Section 1581(c) (Zhejiang Yuhua Timber Co. v. United States, CIT #21-00502).
CBP violated the law when it imposed antidumping and countervailing duties, Section 301 China tariffs, merchandise processing fees and harbor maintenance fees on importer Richmond International Forest Products' (RIFP's) hardwood plywood imports since the entries were made in Cambodia and not China, the importer said. In three separate but very similar complaints filed at the Court of International Trade, RIFP argued that CBP ignored evidence revealing that the hardwood plywood was made in Cambodia, thereby abusing its discretion when it imposed a host of duties on the products (Richmond International Forest Products v. United States, CIT #21-00063, #21-00318, #21-00319).
The U.S. cannot demand Customs Passenger Processing Fee payments for trips for which customers have canceled their tickets and are issued refunds in the form of travel vouchers, Southwest Airlines argued in a May 6 complaint at the Court of International Trade. CBP's move to collect the fees violates the statute's plain terms, which lay out that CBP is entitled to this fee only when a passenger actually travels on a plane from outside the U.S. into the U.S., the complaint said (Southwest Airlines Co. v. U.S., CIT #22-00141).
The following lawsuits were recently filed at the Court of International Trade:
The Committee Overseeing Action for Lumber International Trade Investigations or Negotiations should not be allowed to intervene in GreenFirst Forest Products' case contesting the Commerce Department's decision not to start a changed circumstances review, Greenfirst argued in an April 29 reply brief at the Court of International Trade. The intervention bid should be tossed since the committee ignores the action that is currently before the court and is arguing against a case that doesn't exist, the brief said (GreenFirst Forest Products Inc. v. United States, CIT #22-00097).
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit on May 6 affirmed the Court of International Trade's ruling in a customs spat over tobacco wraps. Submitting an opinionless judgment order, Judges Timothy Dyk, Jimmie Reyna and Todd Hughes affirmed the trade court's decision to allow the results of a particular customs test into evidence used to weigh the tobacco wraps.
Section 232 national security tariffs are not remedial and are in fact ordinary customs duties, meaning they should be deducted from an antidumping duty respondent's U.S. price, the U.S. argued in a reply brief at the Court of International Trade. Responding to exporter Nippon Steel Corporation's arguments attempting to overturn the trade court's prior ruling on the issue in three other cases, DOJ argued that Section 232 duties are imposed to address imports that threaten national security and not to boost the economic welfare of U.S. industries, making them non-remedial (Nippon Steel Corporation v. United States, CIT #21-00533).
DOJ and the Federal Trade Commission settled a case against Lithionics Battery and its founder and owner, Steven Tartaglia, accusing them of falsely claiming that their battery and battery module products were made in the U.S., DOJ announced May 4. Lithionics and Tartaglia agreed to pay $105,319.56 in civil penalties (U.S. v. Lithionics Battery, M.D. Fla. #8:22-00868).