Canada is choosing to call for a binational panel to determine whether the countervailing duty order on its softwood lumber exports is fair, but is challenging the antidumping order at the Court of International Trade.
U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai, speaking Aug. 24 to other G-20 trade ministers, said the U.S. wants to reform the World Trade Organization by improving compliance with -- and enforcement of -- WTO members' commitments, "restoring efficacy to the negotiating arm; ... equipping the Membership to address unfair practices and global market distortions, and putting the organization on the footing to promote trade policies that build resilience and address current global challenges."
U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai met with World Trade Organization Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala in Jaipur, India, ahead of the G-20 Trade and Investment Ministers' Meeting, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative announced. The readout said Tai discussed U.S. support for the WTO and the 13th Ministerial Conference, set to take place in late February next year. Agreeing to remain in "close coordination" in the coming months, Tai and Okonjo-Iweala expressed their desire to make MC13 "the WTO's first reform ministerial."
A World Trade Organization dispute panel rejected China's claim that its retaliatory tariffs in response to Section 232 tariffs were justified because the U.S. steel and aluminum tariffs were a safeguard in disguise.
The U.S. asked for another 60 days to file its reply brief in the massive Section 301 litigation at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. The government said the present suit is a test case for over 4,100 similar cases and an extension would allow DOJ more time to confer with all the federal agencies involved in the case (HMTX Industries v. U.S., Fed. Cir. # 23-1891).
The Customs Rulings Online Search System (CROSS) was updated Aug. 4 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):
CBP incorrectly denied protests seeking retroactive refunds of Section 301 duties for entries of furniture parts and boxes imported from China, importer Store Supply Warehouse said in an Aug. 4 complaint at the Court of International Trade. The protested items consisted of nine entries of hardware racks, three entries of jewelry boxes and 10 entries of showcase parts imported through the Port of Savannah (Store Supply Warehouse v. U.S., CIT # 23-00035).
Anabel Gonzalez, one of the World Trade Organization's deputy directors-general, said in a farewell column that although progress is being made on improving the WTO, "governments face some tough choices in the months and years to come to deal with pressing matters that, if left unchecked, could seriously erode the multilateral trading system and damage trade as an engine of growth and prosperity."
Trade Law Daily is providing readers with the top stories from last week in case you missed them. All articles can be found by searching on the title or by clicking on the hyperlinked reference number.
President Joe Biden's two nominees to fill vacancies at the Court of International Trade, Schagrin Associates' Joseph Laroski and the Commerce Department's Lisa Wang (see 2307120021), went before the Senate Judiciary Committee during a hearing on July 26. The two nominees faced questioning from the senators, including inquiries into their backgrounds and how their past experiences will shape their decision-making on the bench.