Tariff rate quotas of 30% imposed in 2018 under a global safeguard tariff against solar cells and solar panels were legal under international trade law, a panel at the World Trade Organization announced. The Section 201 tariffs fell to 25%, then 20%, and were supposed to fall to 15% in 2021, but are at 18% instead (see 1711010040 and 2010130028).
CBP was incorrect to not extend a Section 301 tariff exclusion on side protective attachments for cars onto Keystone Automotive Operations' entries, the importer said in its Sept. 2 complaint at the Court of International Trade. Claiming that the auto parts fit under the terms of the exclusion, Keystone is challenging CBP's deemed denial of its protest (Keystone Automotive Operations, Inc. v. United States, CIT #21-00215).
Apple and Intel were the two heavy hitters joining the Section 301 litigation Aug. 20, when two dozen complaints in total were filed at the Court of International Trade seeking to vacate the lists 3 and 4A tariffs on Chinese goods and get the duties refunded. It was the highest volume of complaints filed on a single day since early in the litigation that will be a year old Sept. 10. Aug. 20 marked two years after the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative published its Federal Register notice imposing List 4A tariffs (see 2108190063). Court rules require plaintiffs to begin an action within two years “after the cause of action first accrues.” Intel “timely filed this action with respect to any entry of merchandise on which List 4A duties have been assessed, and any entry of merchandise on which List 3 duties were not definitively assessed before August 20, 2019,” the chipmaker’s complaint said, using language typical in the others filed the same day. Importers will likely argue alternatively in complaints yet to come that their two-year clocks started when List 4A took effect Sept. 1, 2019, or when they paid their first tariffs or their customs entries reached liquidation.
There’s been a steady recent uptick in the volume of Section 301 complaints at the Court of International Trade, but lawyers with active cases told us they're not sure if that has anything to do with the two-year anniversary of the Federal Register notice on Aug. 20, 2019, that put the List 4A tariffs into effect on Sept. 1, 2019, on goods from China. All the roughly 3,800 complaints inundating the court, and counting, seek to vacate the lists 3 and 4A tariffs and get the paid tariffs refunded on grounds that the duties are unlawful under the 1974 Trade Act and violate 1930 Administrative Procedure Act protections against sloppy rulemakings.
Two longtime career staffers at the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative were nominated for deputy USTR positions. Maria Pagán, the deputy general counsel at the agency, has been chosen to serve as ambassador to the World Trade Organization. According to an announcement from the White House, Pagán handled the implementation package for USMCA and was the lead lawyer in the USMCA negotiation. USTR Katherine Tai said, "María Pagán has proven to be a shrewd negotiator with an unparalleled knowledge of our trade agreements that will serve the United States well as we re-establish relationships with our trading partners and work to reform the World Trade Organization."
Section 301 sample case plaintiffs HMTX Industries and Jasco Products “persuasively argue” that the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative “clearly exceeded its authority” under the 1974 Trade Act when it imposed the “massive” lists 3 and 4A tariffs on “virtually all imports” from China “without connecting them to the underlying investigation of China’s trade practices,” said the Consumer Technology Association, the National Retail Federation and five other trade groups Aug. 9 in an amicus brief in docket 1:21-cv-52 at the U.S. Court of International Trade.
The Trump administration’s “radical escalation” of Section 301 tariffs on lists 3 and 4A Chinese goods “transgressed the statutory limits carefully delineated by Congress” when it crafted the 1974 Trade Act and delegated foreign-trade powers to the executive branch, Akin Gump lawyers for sample case plaintiffs HMTX Industries and Jasco Products said. This came in a cross-motion for judgment on the agency record filed the evening of Aug. 2 at the Court of International Trade in docket 1:21-cv-52. Akin Gump’s proposed order asks that the lists 3 and 4A tariffs be vacated, that any duties paid be refunded with interest and that the government be “permanently enjoined” from imposing the tariffs again.
The U.S. will join World Trade Organization negotiations on strengthening transparency and fairness in domestic licensing procedures for service professionals, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative announced July 20. The WTO Joint Statement Initiative on Services Domestic Regulation (DR JSI) negotiations should be wrapped up by the WTO ministerial meeting in November, USTR added. The DR JSI in particular can aid industries such as retailing, express delivery and financial services, the release said. USTR also pointed to the improvements to transparency and due process introduced in the USMCA that will be expanded upon in regulations under negotiation.
World Trade Organization Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala said there is now political support to move forward on an agreement to curb subsidies that lead to overfishing. The draft text has been blessed by all the heads of delegations in Geneva, she said in a news conference July 15.
Lisa Wang has been chosen by the Biden administration for the role of assistant secretary for enforcement and compliance at the Commerce Department. Wang specializes in trade policy and antidumping and countervailing duty litigation at Picard, Kentz and Rowe, where she is a partner. She also was a senior attorney in the Office of the Chief Counsel for Trade Enforcement and Compliance at Commerce before going to the private sector, and worked as assistant general counsel in the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative. She also worked as senior import administration officer at the U.S. Embassy in Beijing. Wang graduated from Georgetown University Law Center and from Cornell University. Her nomination was announced July 13.