DOJ unveiled last week that it had seized two "mission crew trainers" in 2024 that allegedly were bound for the Chinese military from a South African flight academy on the Entity List. The agency made the announcement Jan. 15 while filling a forfeiture complaint for both trainers with the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.
The Court of International Trade on Dec. 19 declined to grant victory to G&H Diversified Manufacturing on the importer's claims that CBP previously, as part of its role in granting a Section 232 duty exclusion, already said the company's imports were subject to the exclusion. Judge Timothy Reif said open questions of fact still exist with regard to the extent of CBP's role in the exclusion process (see 2412190059).
The U.S. announced charges against a group of business owners, their companies and associates for illegally exporting advanced Nvidia chips to China the same day President Donald Trump said he plans to ease export controls over those exact chips.
The U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia on Oct. 17 rejected both the government’s and law firm Husch Blackwell’s motions for judgment in a Freedom of Information Act dispute involving the Entity List. It gave the Commerce Department time to provide adequate justifications for its decisions to withhold certain information but said the ones it already provided weren’t enough (Husch Blackwell v. Department of Commerce, D.D.C. # 24-2733.
Steven Emme, former chief strategy officer for the Bureau of Industry and Security, has joined Akin as an international trade partner, the firm announced. Emme worked multiple stints at the Commerce Department since 2007, including as BIS chief strategy officer beginning in 2023, before leaving earlier this year. His practice will focus on international trade and national security, including issues related to U.S. export control and sanctions regulations.
Four amicus briefs were filed at the Supreme Court on Sept. 23 in defense of President Donald Trump's ability to levy tariffs under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act. The briefs focused on various elements of the case, though they all argued that the nondelegation doctrine shouldn't be used to strip the president of his tariff authority here, since the court has long upheld broad delegations of authority to the president in the realms of foreign affairs and national defense (Donald J. Trump v. V.O.S. Selections, U.S. 25-250) (Learning Resources v. Donald J. Trump, U.S. 24-1287).
Importer Prysmian Cables and Systems again said Aug. 15 that the plain language of the executive order establishing Section 232 exclusion requests doesn’t allow the Commerce Department to base denials on national security considerations (Prysmian Cables and Systems USA v. United States, CIT # 24-00101).
The U.S. responded July 25 to importer Prysmian Cables and Systems' remaining claims challenging the Commerce Department’s rejection of the importer’s Section 232 requests, saying a number of them had already been covered by the Court of International Trade's dismissal. It also defended Commerce's ability to deny exclusion requests for national security purposes (Prysmian Cables and Systems USA v. U.S., CIT # 24-00101).
The Customs Rulings Online Search System (CROSS) was updated on July 22 with the following headquarters rulings (ruling revocations and modifications will be detailed elsewhere in a separate article as they are announced in the Customs Bulletin):
The U.S. and law firm Husch Blackwell again swapped briefs June 13 in the firm’s Freedom of Information Act dispute. Husch Blackwell said the government, which provided a list of more than 100 disclosed and undisclosed documents related to the firm’s FOIA request regarding an Entity List listing when it filed for summary judgment (see 2505300055), still wasn’t making clear which documents were actually responsive to the request (Husch Blackwell v. Department of Commerce, D.D.C. # 1:24-02733).