Importer Transvolt took to the Court of International Trade to argue that CBP unlawfully excluded its golf carts from entry based either on the notion that the golf carts fail to meet Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards or that the carts were transshipped through Vietnam. Transvolt filed a complaint on Dec. 22 in one of multiple cases the importer brought to contest the exclusion of multiple of its entries (Transvolt v. United States, CIT # 25-00582).

CBP unlawfully initiated an antidumping duty and countervailing duty evasion investigation more than 15 days after receiving an allegation of duty evasion and imposed interim measures in violation of importer Sinoboom North America's due process rights, Sinoboom argued in a Dec. 22 complaint at the Court of International Trade (Sinoboom North America v. United States, CIT # 25-00876).

Exporter Trina Solar waived its argument that the "nature of the production process" in a third country can compel a negative circumvention finding, and, in any case, it's incorrect as a matter of law, the U.S. argued on Dec. 23. Filling a reply to Trina's comments on the Commerce Department's remand results, the government urged the Court of International Trade to accept the agency's finding that Trina's Vietnamese solar cells circumvented the antidumping and countervailing duties on Chinese solar cells (Trina Solar (Vietnam) Science & Technology v. United States, CIT # 23-00228).

The Court of International Trade on Dec. 23 agreed to expedite importer Camel Energy's case against CBP's detention of its battery entries after the parties filed a joint proposed briefing schedule that accelerates the court's consideration of the case (Camel Energy v. United States, CIT # 25-00420).

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The Court of International Trade on Dec. 23 stayed all recent cases filed at the trade court seeking refunds of tariffs imposed under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, pending the Supreme Court's ruling in the lead cases on the legality of the tariffs.

The Commerce Department didn't improperly "relitigate" a negative injury determination on freight rail couplers from China in its antidumping duty and countervailing duty investigations on the same product, the Court of International Trade held on Dec. 23. Judge Gary Katzmann said the second set of proceedings involving Chinese freight rail couplers differed from the first in three key ways: it covered different physical merchandise, it involved different countries of origin, and it involved a different period of review.

The Court of International Trade did not err in classifying The Comfy, an oversized pullover imported by Cozy Comfort, as a pullover of Harmonized Tariff Schedule 6110 and not a blanket of heading 6301, the U.S. argued in a Dec. 19 reply brief at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (Cozy Comfort v. United States, Fed. Cir. # 25-1889).

CBP stuck with its finding that exporter Kingtom Aluminio uses forced labor in manufacturing aluminum extrusions following a decision from the Court of International Trade that the agency failed to adequately explain its initial forced labor finding. CBP found that "Kingtom submitted its employees to situations that align with multiple [International Labour Organization] (ILO) indicators of forced labor" (Kingtom Aluminio v. United States, CIT # 24-00264).

The Court of International Trade remanded the Commerce Department's expedited countervailing duty review on Canadian softwood lumber for the ninth time on Dec. 18, finding the agency abused its discretion in declining to reopen the record to let respondent Les Produits Forestiers D&G and its cross-owned affiliate Les Produits Forestiers Portbec add information to help distinguish sales affected by subsidies to unaffiliated input suppliers.