A domestic producer coalition seeks the imposition of new antidumping duties on brass rod from Brazil, India, Israel, Mexico, South Africa and South Korea, as well as new countervailing duties on brass rod from India, Israel and South Korea, it said in petitions filed with the Commerce Department and the International Trade Commission April 27. Commerce will now decide whether to begin AD/CVD investigations, which could result in the imposition of permanent AD/CVD orders and the assessment of AD and CVD on importers. The American Brass Rod Fair Trade Coalition is listed with Mueller Brass and Wieland Chase as petitioners, but the filing also shows that the coalition consists of Mueller Brass and Wieland Chase, the only two major producers remaining in the U.S.
The following lawsuits were filed at the Court of International Trade during the weeks of April 10-16 and 17-23.
A domestic producer filed petitions March 30 with the Commerce Department and the International Trade Commission requesting new antidumping duties on boltless steel shelving prepackaged for sale from India, Malaysia, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam. Commerce will now decide whether to begin AD investigations. Edsal Manufacturing requested the investigations.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit upheld CBP's decision not to grant credit to customs broker license exam test taker Byungmin Chae of Elkhorn, Nebraska, for two questions on the April 2018 exam. Judges Pauline Newman, Sharon Prost and Todd Hughes granted Chae credit for one of three questions he challenged, but that was insufficient to bring him up to the 75% threshold needed to pass the test.
The CBP executive whose directorate covers trade remedies, intellectual property enforcement and e-commerce said that small-value shipments coming to the U.S. are not slipping through uninspected, just because there are no duties owed. Brandon Lord, executive director of the Trade Policy and Programs Directorate, said in an interview with International Trade Today at the CBP Trade Facilitation and Cargo Security Summit: "There's a misconception that we don't target or screen de minimis -- it's not true. People throw around the phrase 'loophole.' It's not a loophole. De minimis is not a loophole."
Almost half of de minimis shipments last year were covered either by the Type 86 entry test or the Section 321 data pilot program, CBP said, but that doesn't mean that the government has a good grasp on what merchandise is entering in small packages.
Canopies for child safety seats are properly classified under Harmonized Tariff Schedule subheading 9401.99.90 as "other" seat parts, CBP headquarters said in a recently released ruling modification, despite a comment on the underlying proposal that said the court needed to follow U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit precedent and classify the canopies as parts of seats for vehicle seats.
The following lawsuits were filed at the Court of International Trade during the week of April 3-9.
The Court of International Trade on April 11 dismissed without prejudice a suit from Environment One Corp. seeking to impose a Section 301 exclusion on 31 entries, for failing to state a claim on which relief can be granted. While Judge Mark Barnett ruled against the government's motion to dismiss the case pertaining to 23 of the entries for lack of jurisdiction, the judge ultimately granted the U.S. motion to dismiss the case since the plaintiff failed to include key information about the merchandise at issue in the case's amended complaint. Barnett gave Environment One 10 days to file a second amended complaint lest the case be dismissed with prejudice.
CBP will not be granting any additional extensions for new aluminum entry summary filing requirements related to Section 232 tariffs on Russia, a CBP official confirmed during a webinar hosted by the National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America on April 6.