The following lawsuits were filed at the Court of International Trade during the week of April 28 - May 4:
The Court of International Trade on May 2 held that importer BASF's fish oil ethyl ester concentrates "maintain the essence of fish" and are thus "extracts of fish" under Harmonized Tariff Schedule heading 1603 and not "food preparations" under heading 2106.
The following lawsuits were filed at the Court of International Trade during the weeks of March 17-23, March 23-30, March 31 - April 6, April 7-13, April 14-20 and April 21-27:
CBP unlawfully detained 11 shipments of honey from importer Tri State Honey and held the entries for "nearly a year without explanation or justification," the importer argued in an April 29 complaint at the Court of International Trade. Seeking at least $4 million in damages along with attorney's fees, Tri State Honey said CBP violated its "due process rights" by failing to disclose the reasons for the detention of its honey and the evidence as to the honey's country of origin (Tri State Honey v. United States, CIT # 25-00080).
The U.S. offered its most fulsome defense of President Donald Trump's reciprocal tariffs to date, submitting a reply to a group of five importers' motion for a preliminary injunction and summary judgment at the Court of International Trade on April 29. The government argued that the text, context, history and purpose of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act lets the president impose tariffs and that IEEPA doesn't confer an unconstitutional delegation of authority to the president (V.O.S. Selections v. Donald J. Trump, CIT # 25-00066).
Labor advocacy group International Rights Advocates filed a lawsuit this week against Starbucks on behalf of eight individuals who were trafficked and forced to work on "Starbucks-controlled coffee plantations in Brazil." The complaint, brought in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, seeks class certification for all trafficked laborers in Brazil and alleges that Starbucks knowingly benefitted from this slave labor, which took place on thousands of supplier plantations (John Doe I v. Starbucks Corporation, D.D.C. # 25-01261).
The U.S. joined a case against importer Barco Uniforms, companies that supply Barco and the two individuals that control the suppliers for allegedly violating the False Claims Act by knowingly underpaying customs duties on apparel imports, DOJ announced. The suit was originally filed in 2016 under the FCA's whistleblower provision by Toni Lee, the former director of product commercialization at Barco. The U.S. intervened in the case, filing a complaint on April 11.
Hoshine Silicon (Jia Xiang) Industry Co. has constitutional and statutory standing to challenge a withhold release order on silica-based products made by its parent company, Hoshine Silicon, or its subsidiaries, the Court of International Trade held in a decision made public April 22. However, Judge Claire Kelly dismissed Jiaxing Hoshine's claim against CBP's issuance of the WRO for being untimely, finding that it was brought after the statute of limitations had run out.
CIT Says Several Components, Finishing Work for Sinks Shouldn't Have Been Included in Dutiable Value
The value of sink components and finishing work that either (1) wasn’t covered under the relevant antidumping duty and countervailing duty orders, or, (2) didn’t originate in China, shouldn’t have been included in the sinks’ dutiable value because the orders' language didn't specifically include them, Court of International Trade Judge Jennifer Choe-Groves ruled April 21. However, packaging costs should have been, she said.
Counsel for two members of the Blackfeet Nation tribe that recently filed a lawsuit against the recent tariff action taken by President Donald Trump told us that she believes jurisdiction to be proper in the U.S. District Court for the District of Montana. Monica Tranel, the attorney for Montana state Sen. Susan Webber and rancher Jonathan St. Goddard, also said that she believes she can obtain a preliminary injunction against the spate of tariffs recently imposed on Canada due to the size of the harm to the agriculture and tourism industry in western Montana.