The Court of International Trade's ruling that a product is "imported" for duty drawback purposes when it's admitted into a foreign-trade zone and not when entered for domestic consumption impermissibly repealed part of the Foreign Trade Zone Act, imported King Maker Marketing argued in its opening brief at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. The importer added that it's "both absurd and anomalous" to impose a time limit on the recovery of duties and taxes under the drawback scheme as "beginning to run before those duties and taxes are paid" (King Maker Marketing v. United States, Fed. Cir. # 25-1819).
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit on July 28 issued its mandate in a case on the 2018-19 administrative review of the antidumping duty order on Italian pasta, remanding the review to the Court of International Trade (see 2506050021). The court said Commerce failed to account for the Food and Drug Administration's "mandated rounding rules on the protein content listed on the label" of U.S. pasta and the "different nitrogen-to-protein conversion factors used in calculating protein content" in the U.S. and Italy in comparing Italian and American products. Judges Alan Lourie, Alvin Schall and Kara Stoll said the agency improperly prioritized "transparency" over its statutory duty to compare physically identical products in an antidumping duty review (La Molisana v. United States, Fed. Cir. # 23-2060)
In a July 24 complaint, Chinese-origin 2,4-Dichlorophenoxyactic acid (2,4-D) importer PBI-Gordon Corp. challenged the International Trade Commission’s affirmative injury determination regarding its products on a number of fronts (PBI-Gordon Corp. v. United States, CIT # 25-00140).
In its motion for judgment July 25, petitioner Cornerstone Chemical Co. again argued (see 2502070029) that Turkey was the wrong surrogate selection for a Commerce Department investigation on melamine from Qatar because of different particular market situations that existed in both Turkey and Qatar (Cornerstone Chemical Co. v. United States, CIT # 25-00005).
An entry of gold jewelry from Oman qualifies for duty-free treatment under the U.S.-Oman Free Trade Agreement Implementation Act, importer Empire Jewelry argued in a July 28 complaint to the Court of International Trade. The importer noted that CBP doesn't disagree as to the Harmonized Tariff Schedule subheading that applies to the case, subheading 7113.19.5090, but rather whether the jewelry originates in Oman under the terms of the FTA (Empire Jewelry v. United States, CIT # 24-00127).
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The Commerce Department permissibly used respondent Habas Sinai ve Tibbi Gazlar Istihsal Endustrisi's Turkish lira-denominated sales to value the company's home-market sales in the 2018-19 administrative review of the antidumping duty order on cold-rolled steel flat products from Turkey, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit held on July 29.
The Court of International Trade on July 29 denied importers Johanna Foods' and Johanna Beverage Company's application for a temporary restraining order against President Donald Trump's threatened 50% tariff on Brazil. Judge Timothy Reif held that the "indefiniteness of the threatened action," which Trump said will take effect on Aug. 1, "dooms" the importers' "request for emergency relief in the form of a TRO." The judge said neither Trump nor any agency "has taken final action that is subject to judicial review by this Court."
Court of International Trade Judge Mark Barnett pressed counsel for petitioner Edsal Manufacturing during oral argument on July 23 regarding the company's challenge to the Commerce Department's surrogate financial statement selection in the antidumping duty investigation on boltless steel shelving units from Thailand. Barnett also sharply questioned Edsal's counsel regarding their challenge to Commerce's use of the commercial invoice date as the date of sale for respondent Siam Metal Tech's U.S. sales and the agency's reliance on respondent Bangkok Sheet Metal's total cost of manufacture value (Edsal Manufacturing Co. v. U.S., CIT # 24-00108).
The following lawsuits were filed recently at the Court of International Trade: