The Sierra Club pushed Rep. Jared Polis, D-Colo., to oppose Trade Promotion Authority in an advertisement campaign that will run through April 26, the organization said in a press release (here). Polis has a history of small business ownership and entrepreneurship, and several months ago he teamed up with Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., to urge congressional leadership to strengthen digital economy provisions in TPA (see 14050632).
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit on March 13 again upheld the validity of a law allowing countervailing duties on non-market economy countries like China and Vietnam (here). Although the 2012 law had effectively imposed CV duties retroactively on imports from 2007 through 2012, Congress did not violate the Due Process clause of the constitution because it acted with the rational purpose of protecting U.S. manufacturers from unfair trade practices, said the court.
Aluminum “wall standards” imported by Ford Atlantic for use in retail shelving and displays are subject to the antidumping and countervailing duty orders on aluminum extrusions from China (A-570-967/C-570-968), said the Commerce Department in a scope ruling issued March 4. The only non-extruded aluminum components of the wall standards are steel and brass mounts, which as “mere fasteners” cannot qualify the wall systems for the finished merchandise exemption, said Commerce. However, folding tripod easels imported by Ford Atlantic are exempt from AD/CV duties because they include non-aluminum arm joints, hooks, and connectors, said the agency.
The following lawsuits were filed at the Court of International Trade during the week of March 2-8:
An importer faces nearly $17 million in penalties for misclassifying Chinese tires under duty free tariff subheadings, according to a complaint filed at the Court of International Trade on March 10. The government says China Tire Warehouse falsely classified its new car and truck tires under HTS subheadings for used tires and forestry vehicle tires, avoiding over $400,000 in duties in the process.
The following lawsuits were filed at the Court of International Trade during the week of Feb. 23 - March 1:
International Trade Today is providing readers with some of the top stories for Feb. 23-27 in case they were missed.
Recent rulings from the Court of International Trade mean CBP will be much stricter going forward on what it does and doesn’t consider a valid protest, said Carrie Owens, chief of CBP’s entry process and duty refund branch. Speaking during a panel discussion at the Georgetown Law School International Trade Update conference on Feb. 27, Owens gave a variety of advice on the protest process, including that protests need to follow the form specified by law and regulation and should be as complete as possible to give it the best chance of being approved.
The following lawsuits were filed at the Court of International Trade during the week of Feb. 16-22:
Customs protests must strictly adhere to statutory and regulatory requirements in order to be valid, said the Court of International Trade in a Feb. 23 ruling (here). Even if it’s obvious that a document is intended as a protest, the protest is not valid unless it includes all required information in the prescribed format, said the court as it dismissed a challenge to the classification of an imported Rolls Royce because the underlying protest wasn’t valid.