The chair of the World Trade Organization's agriculture negotiations, Turkey's Alparslan Acarsoy, urged members at the group's Dec. 4 meeting to “swiftly resume substantive talks” in 2025, the WTO said. At the meeting, the African Group and the Cairns Group of agricultural exporting countries said they made progress in their bilateral discussions, which aim to present a “comprehensive package of modalities for agriculture reform” before the 14th Ministerial Conference.
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit Judge Pauline Newman made her opening claims in a suit against her colleagues' investigation into her fitness to continue serving on the bench. In addition, Newman moved to unseal certain documents used in her brief, claiming that her colleagues on the court "threatened her and her attorneys with unspecified sanctions if any portion of the documents" were made public (Hon. Pauline Newman v. Hon. Kimberly Moore, D.C. Cir. # 23-01334).
The U.S. on Dec. 9 sought default judgment at the Court of International Trade against importer Rago Tires in its customs penalty suit against the company for failing to pay antidumping and countervailing duties on truck and bus tires from China. The government brought the suit in February, alleging that Rago was grossly negligent in avoiding the AD/CVD (see 2402210061). The U.S. said it served the company's "principal and registered agent" a copy of the summons and complaint but has received no response. As a result, since the deadline to respond has lapsed, the government requested default judgment of $56,435.48 for the gross negligence claim (United States v. Rago Tires, CIT # 24-00043).
The government's cause of action against a surety runs from the date the surety breached the demand for payment on a customs bond and not from the date of liquidation, or deemed liquidation, of the underlying entries covered by the bond, the U.S. argued. Filing a cross-motion for judgment at the Court of International Trade on Dec. 9, the U.S. said it timely filed its case because the suit was brought within six years from the date surety firm Aegis Security Insurance Co. was delinquent on an over $100,000 bill for unpaid duties (United States v. Aegis Security Insurance Co., CIT # 22-00327).
The Commerce Department issued a final rule making various changes to its antidumping and countervailing duty procedures, notably altering its nonmarket economy policy in AD cases by allowing entities in third countries "owned or controlled" by nonmarket economies to be subject to the country-wide AD rate for that nation.
Jared Cynamon, a former trade attorney at the Commerce Department, has joined Sandler Travis as an associate, according to the law firm and Cyanmon's LinkedIn page. Cynamon spent the past four years at Commerce, where he reviewed antidumping and countervailing duty determinations.
Uzbekistan wants to join the World Trade Organization by 2026, a "high-level government delegation" from the Central Asian nation said during the 9th meeting of the Working Party on the Accession of Uzbekistan. Deputy Prime Minister Jamshid Khodjaev said Uzbekistan is looking to "intensify efforts to finalize outstanding negotiations and harmonize its legal and regulatory frameworks with WTO agreements." The delegation noted that since the last meeting of the working party, the nation has concluded negotiations with nine additional members, bringing the total of completed bilateral talks to 22. The chair of the working party, South Korea's Yun Seong-deok, encouraged members to ramp up their engagement with Uzbekistan next year and wants to reconvene the working party in spring 2025.
A Chinese national was charged for his role in a scheme to illegally ship export-controlled "defense-related technical data" to China and illegally supply the Department of Defense with Chinese-origin rare earth magnets for aviation systems and military items, DOJ announced.
The following lawsuits were recently filed at the Court of International Trade:
Surety firm American Alternative Insurance Corp. filed a cross-claim in a customs penalty suit brought by the U.S. against importer Repwire, its manager Jose Pigna and the surety. On Dec. 9, American Alternative Insurance told the Court of International Trade that Repwire and Pigna should be compelled to pay the over $13 million penalty and that the company and its manager "are obligated to indemnify" the insurance company for the amount of duties and fees being demanded (United States v. Repwire, CIT # 24-00173).