The conservative Liberty Justice Center brought a lawsuit on behalf of five importers to challenge the constitutionality of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act as a source of tariff-setting authority. The complaint, filed April 14 at the Court of International Trade, makes two claims: President Donald Trump's "reciprocal" tariffs exceed the president's statutory authority under IEEPA and, even if this statutory authority exists, it's an "unconstitutional delegation of legislative authority" (V.O.S. Selections v. Donald J. Trump, CIT # 25-00066).
The Commerce Department is launching Section 232 investigations on imports of semiconductors and pharmaceuticals as a possible precursor to levying duties on these products, according to Federal Register notices released April 14.
A group of five companies filed a complaint at the Court of International Trade challenging the president's authority to impose tariffs under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act. The complaint, drafted by the conservative Liberty Justice Center, says President Donald Trump's use of IEEPA to impose "reciprocal" tariffs "exceeds his statutory authority." The lawsuit adds that even if IEEPA grants this authority, it amounts to an "unconstitutional delegation of legislative authority." The lawsuit is the third of its kind to challenge the use of IEEPA to impose tariffs but is the first to be filed at the trade court.
The U.S. is excluding certain smartphones, computers, chips and other items from President Donald Trump's executive order on reciprocal tariffs, CBP said in a CSMS message released late April 11. The products are being added to the list of exempt Harmonized Tariff Schedule headings and subheadings under Trump's April 2 executive order and won't be subject to the additional duties if they're entered for consumption, or withdrawn from warehouse for consumption, on or after 12:01 a.m. EDT on April 5.
Clete Willems, a former National Security Council official and Akin Gump trade lawyer, is joining Netflix as its chief global affairs officer, he said on LinkedIn. Willems served in the first Trump administration as a senior international economics official and sherpa to the Group of 7 and Group of 20.
China is raising tariff levels to 125% for U.S. origin goods in response to President Donald Trump's April 9 decision to raise tariffs to the same rate for Chinese goods (see 2504090043).
CHANDLER, Ariz. -- The National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America could help organize a class-action lawsuit against ocean carriers if enough of its members and other non-vessel operating common carriers (NVOCC) say they're unfairly being refused service contracts, industry officials said at the NCBFAA’s annual meeting.
The International Trade Commission is issuing a limited exclusion order banning imports of imports of eye cosmetics and related packaging (ITC Inv. No. 337-TA-1407) from Taiwanese company Kaibeauty, Korean company I’ll Global Co., Israeli company Hikari Laboratories, and Hungarian company Kelz Beauty, it said in a notice to be published April 14. Additionally, the ITC set a bond of 100% of the entered value for covered articles imported or sold during the period of presidential review. The ITC declined to issue cease and desist orders against the companies "because of the lack of evidence or allegations that the Defaulting Respondents maintain commercially significant inventories and/or engage in significant commercial operations in the United States." The order concludes a Section 337 investigation the ITC launched in July 2024, based on allegations by Amarte USA that the respondents are selling eye creams, eye palettes, eye patches, eye serums and eyelashes that use identical or similar names to its trademarked Eyeconic brand (see 2407160015).
The International Trade Commission has ended a Section 337 investigation on imported disposable vaporizer devices (ITC Inv. No. 337-TA-1381), it said in a Federal Register notice to be published April 14. R.J. Reynolds, along with RAI Strategic Holdings, initially alleged in 2024 that 42 respondents (mostly in the U.S. and China) imported disposable vaporizer devices that infringe their patents (see 2407220025).
The International Trade Commission has ended a Section 337 investigation on imported audio players and components (ITC Inv. No. 337-TA-1329), it said in a Federal Register notice to be published April 14. Complainant Google initially alleged in 2022 that Sonos' audio players infringed several of Google's patents covering speech recognition and hot word detection on multiple devices (see 2209150021).