U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai laid out her priorities for reforming the World Trade Organization, providing concrete options that the U.S. and other WTO members can take to reinvigorate the international trade forum. In a Sept. 22 speech at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, Tai said that the biggest tenets of WTO reform revolve around "improving transparency," rebuilding the body's ability to negotiate new rules for new challenges and dispute settlement reform.
Elisa Solomon, trial attorney at DOJ's International Trade Field Office, will transfer to become a trial attorney at the Securities and Exchange Commission effective Sept. 25, according to a U.S. notice at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. Her last day at DOJ was Sept. 23. Solomon began working at DOJ in 2022 as a trial attorney, coming to the agency from Covington & Burling, where she was an associate in the white collar investigations and commercial litigation practices. She also served as a law clerk with Court of International Trade Judge Timothy Stanceu.
World Trade Organization members mulled over a draft statement on plastics pollution to be circulated at the 13th Ministerial Conference, during a Sept. 21 meeting of the Dialogue on Plastics Pollution and Environmentally Sustainable Plastics Trade, the WTO said. Australia introduced the draft statement, saying that it expands on the first "draft zero" statement and outlines actions meant to "reflect the discussions held over the past two years."
The EU General Court on Sept. 20 rejected Russian businessman Alexey Mordashov's application to annul his sanctions listing, according to an unofficial translation. The court said the EU didn't err in finding that Mordashov is an influential businessman in sectors of the Russian government, rejecting his challenges to the process, reasoning and proportionality.
The following lawsuit was recently filed at the Court of International Trade:
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit issued its mandate Sept. 22 in Royal Brush Manufacturing v. U.S. The appellate court ruled in July that CBP violated importer Royal Brush's due process rights during an Enforce and Protect Act investigation by not providing the company with access to business confidential information (see 2307270038). The ruling has raised questions on how CBP would respond and how it will conduct its antidumping and countervailing duty evasion investigations in the future. Royal Brush counsel Steven Gordon emailed that the U.S. hasn't petitioned for a rehearing and that he doesn't expect an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court (Royal Brush Manufacturing v. U.S., Fed. Cir. # 22-1226).
The Commerce Department legally held that modified engines with a gearbox and vertical power take-off shaft are covered by the antidumping and countervailing duty orders on vertical shaft engines between 99cc and 255cc from China, the U.S. said in a Sept. 19 reply brief at the Court of International Trade (Zhejiang Amerisun Technology Co. v. U.S., CIT # 23-00011).
The U.S. filed a customs penalty lawsuit on Sept. 22 at the Court of International Trade against importer Rayson Global and its owner Doris Cheng, seeking a nearly $3.4 million penalty related to evaded antidumping and Section 301 duties on uncovered mattress innersprings from China. The complaint says the imports were transshipped from China through Thailand to avoid the duties (United States v. Rayson Global, CIT # 23-00201).
The Court of International Trade improperly relied on an adverse inference in rejecting importer Meyer Corp.'s claim for first sale treatment related to the valuation of its cookware imports, Meyer told the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in a Sept. 21 reply brief. Meyer claimed that the trade court's inference, which the importer said is the "centerpiece" of the U.S. defense, is based solely on "pure speculation" and shows that the court committed "clear error" (Meyer Corp. v. United States, Fed. Cir. # 23-1570).
The Court of International Trade in a Sept. 20 opinion dismissed a customs penalty case involving surety company Lincoln General Insurance Co. The company filed a joint motion to dismiss with the U.S. in the case, as well as in 10 other similar matters, telling the court that the parties reached an understanding regarding "priority classification that enabled [CBP] to request that the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania approve the United States' claim" as "undisputed and resolved" (see 2309200038). Judge Jane Restani granted the motion to dismiss.