The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit on May 29 stayed the Court of International Trade's decision to vacate all trade action taken by President Donald Trump under the International Emergency and Economic Powers Act while the appellate court considers the government's emergency stay motion of the trade court's ruling. Yesterday, the trade court vacated all of Trump's executive orders imposing the reciprocal tariffs and tariffs on China, Canada and Mexico to combat the flow of fentanyl. The U.S. immediately filled for a stay of the decision at CIT and the Federal Circuit, arguing that such a ruling would "hamstring" U.S. foreign policy.
The District Court for the District of Columbia struck down all tariff action taken under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act a day after the Court of International Trade did the same. However, Judge Rudolph Contreras went farther than the trade court, holding on May 29 that IEEPA categorically doesn't include the power to impose tariffs.
The end of reciprocal tariffs and tariffs imposed over fentanyl smuggling from China, Canada and Mexico is on hold until an appellate court decides if the use of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act was illegal for those purposes.
The Fish and Wildlife Service is removing the Colorado hookless cactus (Sclerocactus glaucus) from the endangered and threatened plants list upon determination that the currently listed entity is actually two species: Sclerocactus glaucus and Sclerocactus dawsoniae, which was previously identified as S. dawsonii in the proposed rule.
The Commerce Department published notices in the Federal Register May 28 on the following antidumping and countervailing duty (AD/CVD) proceedings (any notices that announce changes to AD/CVD rates, scope, affected firms or effective dates will be detailed in another ITT article):
On May 27, the FDA posted new and revised versions of the following Import Alerts on the detention without physical examination of:
The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service is allowing imports of fresh pineapple fruit (Ananas comosus) for consumption from Indonesia into the U.S., it said in a Federal Register notice. The change is effective May 29. The agency made its decision following a pest risk analysis that determined that the application of one or more designated phytosanitary measures would be sufficient to mitigate the risks of introducing or disseminating plant pests or noxious weeds.
CBP wasn't required to make a scope referral to the Commerce Department in its antidumping duty evasion case against importer Vanguard Trading Co., since CBP properly exercised its authority in determining that Vanguard's products were under the scope of the relevant AD order, the Court of International Trade held in a decision made public May 27.
The Court of International Trade on May 27 entered default judgment against importer Rayson Global and its owner Doris Cheng in a customs penalty case after previously denying the government's bid for default judgment. In its second attempt to secure default judgment, the U.S. further defended its claim that the merchandise at issue is valued at nearly $3.4 million (United States v. Rayson Global, CIT # 23-00201).
CBP issued the following releases on commercial trade and related matters: