The U.S. agreed to liquidate hoverboards imported by 3BTech under duty-free Harmonized Tariff Schedule subheading 8711.60.000 and exclude the goods from Section 301 China tariffs under secondary subheading 9903.88.17. 3BTech and the U.S. filed a stipulated judgment in the importer's test case on the issue, which resolves the spat in favor of 3BTech (3BTech v. United States, CIT # 21-00026).
In oral argument before Court of International Trade Judge Mark Barnett, parties grappled with how much the Commerce Department was required to consider the original record of its review of the countervailing duty order on Canadian softwood lumber -- which has been subject to litigation since its results were published in 2019 (Committee Overseeing Action for Lumber International Trade Investigations or Negotiations v. U.S., CIT Consol. # 19-00122).
The United States-Bahrain Free Trade Agreement established a "double substantial transformation" test to qualify for preferential tr eatment under the FTA, the U.S. argued in a cross-motion for partial summary judgment at the Court of International Trade. The controlling authority regarding the test is General Note 30 to the Harmonized Tariff Schedule and not, as importer JBF Bahrain has argued, the executive agreement between the two countries or a side letter on tariff classification, the U.S. said (JBF Bahrain v. United States, CIT # 23-00067).
The Commerce Department failed to adequately support its finding that circular welded steel pipe from Vietnam made with hot-rolled steel from South Korea, India or China circumvented the antidumping duty and countervailing duty orders on steel pipe from the three countries, the Court of International Trade held on Dec. 16.
The following are short summaries of recent CBP NY rulings issued by the agency's National Commodity Specialist Division in New York:
The Court of International Trade remanded the Commerce Department's determination that U.S. seafood seller Luscious Seafood is not a bona fide wholesaler of the domestic like product in a confidential decision issued on Dec. 15. Judge Timothy Stanceu said Commerce shall issue a new decision "in which it decides whether Luscious Seafood had standing to request an administrative review of certain Vietnamese exporters and producers" (Luscious Seafood v. United States, CIT # 24-00069).
The Commerce Department failed to adequately support its decision in a scope referral to exclude certain carbon steel butt-weld pipe fittings made from Chinese fittings that underwent production in Vietnam from the scope of the antidumping duty order on carbon steel butt-weld pipe fittings from China, the Court of International Trade held on Dec. 16.
The Commerce Department reasonably found that a certain Moroccan tax subsidy isn't de facto specific, since it's widely available throughout the economy, the Court of International Trade held on Dec. 16. Judge Timothy Stanceu sustained Commerce's reversal of its specificity determination made on remand in a case on the 2020-21 review of the countervailing duty order on Moroccan phosphate fertilizer.
The following are short summaries of recent CBP NY rulings issued by the agency's National Commodity Specialist Division in New York:
The Customs Rulings Online Search System (CROSS) was updated on Dec. 15 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):