The Court of International Trade on Oct. 7 sent a customs classification dispute on truck steps to a bench trial after finding that the undisputed facts are insufficient for conducting a principal use analysis on whether the products are "side protective attachments." Judge Jennifer Choe-Groves held that while a Section 301 exclusion for "side protective attachments" is a principal use provision, and not a provision for an individual product, the court can't at this time properly assess the imports at issue under a principal use framework.

Court of International Trade Judge Jennifer Choe-Groves ruled Oct. 4 that the government hadn’t sufficiently responded to discovery requests by pistolmaker Glock, overruling a number of DOJ's objections and criticizing it for missing its interrogatory responses deadline.

The U.S. Supreme Court on Oct. 4 agreed to hear a lawsuit brought by the Mexican government against a group of gun manufacturers and one gun distributor for their role in aiding the trafficking of guns into Mexico. The lawsuit accuses the gun makers of marketing, distributing, selling and designing guns in ways that knowingly arm Mexican drug cartels through corrupt gun dealers and illegal sales practices (Smith & Wesson Brands v. Estados Unidos Mexicanos, Sup. Ct. # 23-1141).

The Court of International Trade on Oct. 2 rejected exporter Chandan Steel Limited's motion for reconsideration of the court's previous decision sustaining the 145.25% total adverse facts available rate set against the exporter in the 2018-19 administrative review of the antidumping duty order on steel flanges from India.

The Court of International Trade on Oct. 2 sustained the Commerce Department's scope ruling made on remand excluding engines with horizontal crankshafts from the antidumping and countervailing duty orders on vertical shaft engines between 99cc and up to 225cc from China.

After oral argument, the U.S. asked the Court of International Trade to supplement its motion to dismiss in a case involving seized weight loss dietary supplements, saying that it had found emails from CBP “responsive to the Court’s questions" (UniChem Enterprises v. United States, CIT # 24-00033).

Importer Cozy Comfort on Oct. 1 said that the government is seeking to exclude evidence offered by the importer in its tariff classification case that the government itself is looking to enter into evidence. Cozy Comfort said the U.S. "cannot have it both ways," adding that the government's motion to exclude the evidence "is riddled with self-serving arguments, wasting the Court's time" (Cozy Comfort Co. v. United States, CIT # 22-00173).

Trade Law Daily is providing readers with the top stories from last week, in case you missed them. All articles can be found by searching on the title or by clicking on the hyperlinked reference number.

DOJ and exporters led by Baroque clashed in oral argument Sept. 26 before Court of International Trade Judge Timothy Reif over whether the Commerce Department should look to broader, less specific datasets in calculating Tier 2 world benchmark prices or to smaller, narrower ones (Baroque Timber Industries (Zhongshan) Co. v. U.S., CIT Consol. # 22-00210).

The U.S. on Sept. 30 told the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit that the Court of International Trade erred in rejecting its efforts to redact parts of the trade court's decision sustaining an International Trade Commission injury determination. The government said CIT "abused its discretion" in publicly disclosing information marked by the commission as business confidential (CVB, Inc. v. United States, Fed. Cir. # 24-1504).