CIT to Hold Oral Argument on End of de Minimis for Chinese Products
The Court of International Trade on July 2 said in a text-only order it will hold oral argument on importer Detroit Axle's challenge of President Donald Trump's decision to eliminate the de minimis threshold for Chinese products via the International Emergency Economic Powers Act. While CIT Judges Gary Katzmann, Timothy Reif and Jane Restani stayed consideration of the importer's claims against the tariffs on China issued under IEEPA, the judges set a July 10 oral argument date for consideration of the company's motion for a preliminary injunction against the end of the de minimis threshold (Axle of Dearborn, d/b/a Detroit Axle v. Dep't of Commerce, CIT # 25-00091).
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Detroit Axle filed suit last month to challenge Trump's executive order eliminating the de minimis threshold for Chinese products as a violation of 19 U.S.C.1321, the de minimis statute commonly known as Section 321 (see 2505220063). The importer said that if Trump wanted to scrap the exemption, which was done to address Chinese inaction on the flow of fentanyl into the U.S., he had to do it through notice-and-comment rulemaking.
The importer's complaint included four total claims, two of which concerned the de minimis threshold and two of which related to the legality of the IEEPA tariffs. The CIT judges stayed consideration of the tariff claims pending the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit's consideration of V.O.S. Selections v. U.S., the lead IEEPA tariff suit in which the trade court held the tariffs to be unlawful (see 2505280068).