The U.S. moved to dismiss importer Houston Shutters' case at the Court of International Trade filed under Section 1581(c) against the Commerce Department's "unpublished determination not to initiate a changed circumstances review." The government said the decision not to start the CCR isn't a decision listed under either 19 U.S.C. § 1516a or 1517, either of which would give the trade court jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. 1581(c) (Houston Shutters v. United States, CIT # 24-00175).
The U.S. opposed a motion from importer Quantified Operations seeking to compel the government to produce unredacted internal CBP communications on the classification of the company's 3D printing pens, arguing at the Court of International Trade that the communications are irrelevant and otherwise protected by the "deliberative-process privilege" (Quantified Operations v. United States, CIT # 22-00178).
The Commerce Department erred in using a country-wide adverse facts available rate in calculating the antidumping duty rate for the separate rate respondents, importers led by Galleher Corp. argued in an opening brief at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. Galleher argued the use of the AFA rate "punishes" the separate rate firms for respondent Sino-Maple's "lack of cooperation" and leads to an "aberrational margin that does not bear any relationship to the actual dumping margins of the separate rate companies" (Fuson Jinlong Wooden Group Co. v. United States, Fed. Cir. # 25-1196).
China opened a dispute at the World Trade Organization on Feb. 5 to challenge the new 10% tariff imposed by the U.S. on all goods from China, claiming that the measure violates the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade. China said that not only do the duties violate the U.S. government's "Schedule of Concessions and Commitments," they're also "discriminatory and protectionist in nature."
South Africa has launched a safeguard investigation on corrosion-resistant steel coil, the South African government told the World Trade Organization's Committee on Safeguards. The investigation started Jan. 17 and covers "certain flat-rolled products of iron or non-alloy steel" and "certain flat-rolled products of other alloy steel." South Africa said interested parties should make themselves known within 20 days of the start of the investigation.
President Donald Trump nominated William Kimmitt, current partner at Kirkland & Ellis, to serve as head of the Commerce Department's International Trade Administration. Kimmitt served in the first Trump administration as counsel to the U.S. trade representative and was involved in the implementation of the USMCA. At Kirkland & Ellis, Kimmitt is a litigation partner, focusing on international trade and Section 337 unfair import investigation proceedings.
DOJ under President Donald Trump likely will pursue greater criminal enforcement of the most recent tariffs imposed on China to serve as a "general deterrent" and "punish instances of serious misconduct," attorneys at BakerHostetler said in a recent post. In response, foreign parties should be "mindful of their potential criminal exposure," partners Artie McConnell, Jennifer Solari and Michael Snarr said.
The following lawsuits have been filed recently at the Court of International Trade:
The Court of International Trade dismissed eight customs cases for lack of prosecution, noting that all cases were previously placed on the customs case management calendar but weren't removed "at the expiration of the applicable period of time of removal."
President Donald Trump's decision to eliminate the duty-free de minimis threshold for goods from China, issued as part of his 10% tariff hike on Chinese products, likely will face legal challenges due to the economic importance of the de minimis rule, customs attorney Lawrence Friedman told us. However, many questions remain on the precise scope of any resulting change, along with the legal theory underpinning it.