The U.S. District Court for the District of Alaska on Feb. 8 approved a settlement between shipping companies Kloosterboer International Forwarding and Alaska Reefer Management and CBP and DOJ in the companies' suit against Jones Act penalties levied against them. The settlement's terms will see KIF and ARM pay $9.5 million, much less than the over $400 million sought by CBP for the Jones Act violations (Kloosterboer International Forwarding v. U.S., D. Alaska # 3:21-00198).
The U.S. told the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit on Feb. 21 that solar companies and industry groups led by the Solar Energy Industries Association failed to show that an en banc rehearing was needed for a decision upholding President Donald Trump's revocation of a tariff exclusion for bifacial solar panels (Solar Energy Industries Association v. United States, Fed. Cir. # 22-1392).
The Court of International Trade on Feb. 22 again remanded the Commerce Department's use of total adverse facts available against exporter Meihua and its affiliate in an antidumping duty review on xanthan gum from China. Judge Jennifer Choe-Groves said Meihua properly submitted information on the duties it paid, and its submission of its data 56 days before the antidumping review's preliminary results wasn't "untimely."
Anden Chow, former assistant U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, has joined litigation boutique MoloLamken as a partner in New York, the firm announced. Chow worked as an assistant U.S. Attorney for a decade, most recently working on prosecutions into "international financial crime," including "sanctions evasion, asset forfeiture, money laundering, cryptocurrency-related fraud, and Foreign Corrupt Practices Act violations," the firm said.
Morocco launched a safeguard investigation on coated fiberboard on Feb. 20, it told the World Trade Organization's Committee on Safeguards, the WTO announced. Morocco said interested parties have 30 days from the start of the investigation to comment on the proceeding.
The following lawsuits were recently filed at the Court of International Trade:
Exporter Shanghai Tainai Bearing Co. and importer C&U Americas brought a suit to the Court of International Trade on Feb. 20 challenging the 2021-22 review of the antidumping duty order on tapered roller bearings from China. The five-count complaint alleges a host of errors in the review, including on Commerce's use of partial adverse facts available (Shanghai Tainai Bearing Co. v. United States, CIT # 24-00025).
Exporter Nanjing Kaylang Co. filed a complaint at the Court of International Trade on Feb. 20 contesting a Commerce Department scope ruling that found Kaylang's products made from phragmites are subject to the antidumping and countervailing duty orders on wooden cabinets and vanities from China (Nanjing Kaylang Co. v. United States, CIT # 24-00045).
A World Trade Organization dispute panel on Feb. 20 found a U.S. attempt to revisit part of its countervailing duty laws as they pertain to subsidies on agricultural products violated the nation's WTO commitments. The panel said the U.S. failed to implement the findings of a previous dispute panel ruling, which said these same laws cut against the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade in relation to a subsidy finding on ripe olives from Spain.
Exporter Hoshine Silicon (Jia Xing) Industry Co. filed a lawsuit at the Court of International Trade to contest a withhold release order on the company and CBP's rejection of the exporter's petition to be removed from the WRO. The company, which goes by Jiaxing Hoshine, said the WRO has done "significant and irreparable damage" to its business and reputation and that CBP has skirted the law by failing to disclose the evidence it used in issuing the WRO (Hoshine Silicon (Jia Xing) Industry Co. v. U.S., CIT # 24-00048).