The U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington dismissed a lawsuit from clothing company Smart Apparel (U.S.) that accused Nordstrom of breaching a contract when it canceled orders from Smart Apparel that were suspected of being made with forced labor (Smart Apparel (U.S.) v. Nordstrom, W.D. Wash. # 23-01754).
The Drug Enforcement Administration permanently placed 2-methyl AP-237, a synthetic drug that acts like an opioid, in Schedule I of the Controlled Substances Act, in a final rule released March 14. New registration, labeling, record-keeping, and import and export requirements under the final rule take effect April 15.
The Commerce Department has released the final results of the antidumping duty administrative review on frozen fish fillets from Vietnam (A-552-801). These final results will be used to set final assessments of AD duties on importers for subject merchandise entered August 2021 through July 2022.
Panelists from the U.S. and Mexico said that cars assembled in Mexico by Chinese-owned firms can't enter the U.S. with USMCA benefits because of the stringent rules of origin, but spent less time talking about how cars manufactured outside China, including in the U.S., could enter under 2.5% most favored nation tariffs.
The Commerce Department has published the final results of the antidumping duty administrative review on passenger vehicle and light truck tires from China (A-570-016). These final results will be used to set final assessments of AD duties on importers for subject merchandise entered Aug. 1, 2021, through July 31, 2022.
Rep. Tom Kean Jr., R-N.J., chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Europe, said March 12 that he's drafting a “tough sanctions bill” to help reduce U.S. reliance on Russian state-owned company Rosatom for nuclear fuel.
The Commerce Department has published the final results of the antidumping duty administrative review on hydrofluorocarbon blends from China (A-570-028). The agency made changes to its preliminary finding that the one mandatory respondent, Zhejiang Sanmei Chemical Industry Co., Ltd., did not make sales at less than fair value during the review period Aug. 1, 2021, through July 31, 2022, and in the final results assigned it a 101.14% dumping margin.
Democrats that represent Michigan and Ohio, where Big 3 automakers' plants are concentrated, are asking that the Section 301 review hike tariffs on Chinese automakers. Section 301 tariffs already apply a 25% tariff, making the total duty for a Chinese auto 27.5%.
Both co-sponsors of a bill to restrict Chinese goods from de minimis eligibility said that House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Rep. Jason Smith, R-Mo., who has the power to advance the bill, is interested in marking up the bill.
CBP reminded members of the trade community that starting March 1 the agency will require self-certification statements to be uploaded to the Automated Commercial Environment (ACE) for non-industrial diamonds with a weight of 1.0 carat or greater, diamond jewelry and unsorted diamonds, in a CSMS message on Feb. 29. The Office of Foreign Assets Control banned Russian diamonds of those types in February to comply with an executive order signed in December that prohibits the importation of diamonds, fish and seafood if they were produced "wholly or in part" in Russia, CBP said (see 2402080081 and 2312260061).