A Vietnamese shrimp exporter trade group challenged the International Trade Commission's finding that frozen warmwater shrimp from Ecuador, India, Indonesia and Vietnam injured the U.S. industry. Filing a complaint on Feb. 21, the group challenged the ITC's finding of significant price underselling and on the "interchangeability between" farm-raised and wild-caught shrimp as evidence of the "degree of competition between" imports and domestic production and the "consequent effect on prices" (Shrimp Committee of the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers v. United States, CIT # 25-00032).

The Commerce Department failed to investigate subsidies received by cross-owned suppliers of fresh shrimp in the countervailing duty investigation on frozen warmwater shrimp from Ecuador, petitioner American Shrimp Processors Association argued in a Feb. 21 complaint at the Court of International Trade. The association also contested Commerce's findings that the provision of fuel and brackish water for less than adequate remuneration were not countervailable (American Shrimp Processors Association v. United States, CIT # 25-00026).

Anti-forced labor advocacy group International Rights Advocates (IRAdvocates) doesn't have standing to challenge CBP's failure to respond to a withhold release order petition to ban cocoa from Cote d'Ivoire, the U.S. argued in a Feb. 20 reply brief at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. The government claimed that IRAdvocates has not established that it suffered an "injury in fact." It also said any alleged injury isn't "traceable" to the "non-issuance of a WRO," and that the alleged injury isn't "redressable" by CBP (International Rights Advocates v. Kristi Noem, Fed. Cir. # 24-2316).

Exporter Nanjing Kaylang's cabinets made from processed phragmite, a type of reed, were reasonably found by the Commerce Department to fall under antidumping duty and countervailing duty orders on wooden cabinets from China, Court of International Trade Judge Thomas Aquilino ruled Feb. 21.

The Commerce Department properly included Asia Wheel Co.'s trailer wheels made of Chinese rims and Thai discs in the scope of the antidumping duty and countervailing duty orders on steel trailer wheels from China, the Court of International Trade held in a pair of nearly identical decisions. Judge Gary Katzmann said that Commerce didn't illegally expand the scope of the orders since the agency left open the possibility in the original AD/CVD investigations to discuss mixed-origin wheels in a later scope ruling.

After the Court of International Trade denied hoverboard importer 3BTect’s motion to strike three expert reports from the record of its classification dispute, the importer switched Feb. 14 to targeting the factual basis of the government’s cross-motion for judgment, in a 72-page response brief (3BTech v. United States, CIT # 21-00026).

President Donald Trump's directive in his proclamation expanding Section 232 steel tariffs to assess penalties for the misclassification of entries resulting in non-payment of the duties without regard for "evidence of mitigating factors" may run afoul of existing customs laws, trade lawyers said. Even if the directive stays within the bounds of the current statutory scheme, expect more prior disclosures and proactive steps to ensure the proper customs treatment of steel entries, the lawyers added.

The inaugural use of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act to impose tariffs, which saw President Donald Trump set a 10% duty on all goods from China (see 2502030044), has sparked plenty of speculation as to how these tariffs could be challenged in court. One such argument is a statutory claim rooted in the text of IEEPA.

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The Commerce Department properly excluded in-transit mattresses from the calculation of constructed export price (CEP) for respondent PT. Zinus Global Indonesia in the antidumping duty investigation on mattresses from Indonesia, the Court of International Trade held on Feb. 18. Judge Jennifer Choe-Groves also sustained Commerce's exclusion of the selling expenses of Zinus Indonesia's parent company Zinus Korea from the normal value calculation.