The U.S. asked the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas to transfer the latest International Emergency Economic Powers Act tariff lawsuit to the Court of International Trade and to stay briefing on the companies' challenging the tariffs' motion for summary judgment pending resolution of the transfer motion. The government said four courts have found that CIT has exclusive jurisdiction over cases challenging the legality of tariffs imposed under IEEPA, while just one has "declined to transfer the case to the CIT or dismiss for lack of subject-matter jurisdiction" (FIREDISC, Inc. v. Donald J. Trump, W.D. Tex. # 25-01134).
The Court of International Trade on July 28 denied importer Detroit Axle's motion for a preliminary injunction against President Donald Trump's decision to end the de minimis threshold on goods from China, which was made under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act. Judges Gary Katzmann, Timothy Reif and Jane Restani said they already have granted all the relief the importer is seeking, though the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit stayed that relief.
Former trade lawyer Scott Lincicome, who now leads the libertarian Cato Institute's trade division, said the administration learned the natural consequences of Section 301 tariffs when Chinese goods flow to India, Mexico and Vietnam as inputs to manufactured goods that are created in those countries.
Importer Fanuc Robotics America and the U.S. settled a customs case on the importer's robot mechanical units and robot control units. While the robot mechanical units were classified under Harmonized Tariff Schedule subheading 8479.5.000, dutiable at 2.5%, and the robot control units were classified under subheading 8537.10.90, dutiable at 2.7%, CBP agreed to liquidate the products under subheading 8428.90.00, free of duty; subheading 8515.21.00, free of duty; and 8515.310.00, dutiable at 1.6%. Settlement negotiations in the case proceeded over the past year specifically on two models of robot control units (see 2408260050) (Fanuc Robotics America v. U.S., CIT # 12-00052).
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 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):
Responding July 18 to New Jersey resident Brandon Chen’s challenge of 11 questions on the April 2022 Customs Brokers License Exam (see 2411270026), the U.S. said CBP was right to determine Chen failed to achieve a passing 75% score (Brandon Chen v. United States, CIT # 24-00208).
There may be a "bifurcated" process for duty refund should the plaintiffs prevail in litigation over the legality of tariffs imposed under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, a trade lawyer said. That could include a court-ordered process in addition to a separate administrative process because of the volume of claims that will arise should the courts decide that IEEPA is not an appropriate authority for tariffs.
The Court of International Trade on July 28 denied importer Detroit Axle's motion for a preliminary injunction against President Donald Trump's decision to eliminate the de minimis threshold for Chinese goods. Judges Gary Katzmann, Timothy Reif and Jane Restani said Detroit Axle can't succeed in "obtaining the relief it seeks," since the trade court already granted the relief the importer seeks in the lead case on Trump's tariffs imposed under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit stayed that relief pending appeal. The court then stayed the remainder of Detroit Axle's case pending resolution of the lead IEEPA tariff case.
The following are short summaries of recent CBP NY rulings issued by the agency's National Commodity Specialist Division in New York: