Trade Law Daily is a Warren News publication.

Government Counterclaim Redesignated as Defense and Allowed in Dried Botanicals Case

The Court of International Trade on Aug. 17 again declined to allow a government counterclaim to proceed in an importer's denied protest case, redesignating it as a defense, but Judge Gary Katzmann appeared to leave the door open for the…

Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article

Timely, relevant coverage of court proceedings and agency rulings involving tariffs, classification, valuation, origin and antidumping and countervailing duties. Each day, Trade Law Daily subscribers receive a daily headline email, in-depth PDF edition and access to all relevant documents via our trade law source document library and website.

government to collect additional duties from the importer. In the case, which involves the classification of dried botanicals, CIT for the fourth time in just over two years said the government can't file counterclaims in cases brought by importers to challenge denied protests. However, should the government convince the court of its preferred classification as a defense, importer Second Nature Designs "may be liable to the Government for increased duties," Katzmann said in a footnote to the opinion.