The Solar Energy Industries Association urged the Court of International Trade to not allow CBP to reliquidate entries of solar panels that were subject to a preliminary injunction from CIT, saying during oral arguments this week that there's not a strong enough reason to reverse CBP's inadvertent liquidation. The U.S. argued that a court order was needed to "effectuate" the court's suspension of liquidation and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit's decision in the case (Solar Energy Industries Association v. United States, CIT #20-03941).
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Abby Kohlman, former DOJ prosecutor in the fraud section, has rejoined Akin Gump as senior counsel in the white collar defense and government investigations practice, the firm announced. At DOJ, Kohlman also served as special counsel for the Office of Legislative Affairs. Kohlman's practice will focus on advising clients on congressional investigations and other government inquiries, including those related to the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.
Litigants in a lawsuit on a drawback claim told the Court of International Trade in a joint status report that they don't believe the case is "amenable to mediation," though they said they are discussing whether the suit can be settled through a "stipulated judgment on agreed statement of facts." The plaintiff, individual importer Timothy Brown, said he gave the U.S. a "proposed stipulated judgment," which the U.S. is reviewing (Timothy Brown v. United States, CIT # 20-03733).
President Donald Trump's recent executive order halting prosecutions under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act likely won't change the behavior of many companies, given the risk of prosecution globally or in the U.S. after Trump leaves office, lawyers said.
President Donald Trump's recent expansion of Section 232 steel and aluminum tariffs likely would survive a judicial challenge, particularly in light of the string of cases challenging the Section 232 duties imposed during his first term, trade lawyers told us. Thomas Beline, partner at Cassidy Levy, said Trump's move to eliminate the country-specific arrangements and product exclusions is "likely defensible," since the statute lets the president take any action he deems necessary where an agreement is "not being carried out or is ineffective."
President Donald Trump on Feb. 10 instructed the attorney general to cease from opening any new investigations under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act for 180 days so that the Office of the Attorney General can issue new guidelines for FCPA enforcement that "prioritize American interests" and U.S. "economic competitiveness." In the order, Trump said the FCPA has been "abused" and "impedes the United States' foreign policy objectives."
Importers Struxtur and Evolutions Flooring dropped their appeal at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit on the Commerce Department's use of a country-wide adverse facts available rate in calculating the antidumping duty rate for the separate rate respondents in the 2016-17 administrative review of the AD order on multilayered wood flooring from China. The case will continue to be litigated by importers led by Galleher Corp., which filed their opening brief last week, arguing that the use of the AFA rate punishes the separate rate respondents for respondent Sino-maple's lack of cooperation and leads to an aberrational AD rate (see 2502050023). Counsel for Struxtur and Evolutions didn't respond to a request for comment (Fuson Jinlong Wooden Group Co. v. United States, Fed. Cir. # 25-1196).
The Commerce Department permissibly refused to offer exporter East Sea Seafoods Joint Stock Company separate rate status in the 2019-20 administrative review of the antidumping duty order on catfish from Vietnam, petitioner Catfish Farmers of America argued in a Feb. 10 brief supporting Commerce's remand results. The petitioner said that while the Court of International Trade relied on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit's decision in Yanghzou Bestpak Gifts & Crafts Co. v. U.S. to remand the issue, legal developments since Bestpak have called into question the relevance of the decision (Green Farms Seafood Joint Stock Company v. United States, CIT # 22-00092).
The Commerce Department's third factor for assessing a foreign government's de facto control over an exporter, which addresses the selection of management, doesn't require a link to export activities, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit held on Feb. 11. Judges Sharon Prost, Richard Taranto and Raymond Chen also held that Commerce properly requires separate rate respondents to "carry a burden of persuasion to justify a separate rate," rejecting exporter Pirelli Tyre Co.'s claim that the agency shouldn't have conflated a rebuttable presumption with a requirement to carry a burden of persuasion.
Savannah Maxwell, an international trade attorney at the Commerce Department, will depart the agency to join Mowry & Grimson as an associate, she told Trade Law Daily. Maxwell joined Commerce's Office of the Chief Counsel for Trade Enforcement and Compliance in 2019 as a staff attorney. She was promoted to senior attorney last year (see 2403010020).