Importer Opposes US Extension Request in de Minimis Suit
Importer Detroit Axle opposed the government's motions for an extension of time to respond to the company's motions for leave to amend its complaint and for partial summary judgment in its case against President Donald Trump's decision to end the de minimis threshold for goods from China. Detroit Axle said the U.S. "has failed to establish 'good cause'" for being given another 35 days to respond to the motions to amend and for partial summary judgment if the Court of International Trade dissolves the stay of the case (Axle of Dearborn d/b/a Detroit Axle v. United States, CIT # 25-00091).
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
Timely, relevant coverage of court proceedings and agency rulings involving tariffs, classification, valuation, origin and antidumping and countervailing duties. Each day, Trade Law Daily subscribers receive a daily headline email, in-depth PDF edition and access to all relevant documents via our trade law source document library and website.
Nor has the U.S. shown good cause for 21 days to file a proposed briefing schedule should the court deny the importer's motion to dissolve the stay, the brief said.
The trade court stayed Detroit Axle's action pending resolution of the lead case on the legality of tariffs imposed under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, since the executive order eliminating the de minimis threshold for Chinese products was the same one at issue in the lead IEEPA tariff case. However, after a separate executive order eliminated the threshold globally, the importer asked for the stay to be dissolved, saying plaintiffs' success in the IEEPA tariff case wouldn’t necessarily grant it the relief it is seeking (see 2509080062).
Separately, Detroit Axle asked for leave to amend its complaint to add the new executive order ending de minimis globally to its complaint.
In response to the government's request for an extension of time to respond to this motion, the importer said that if the stay is dissolved, "the government does not need 35 days to respond to Detroit Axle’s motion to amend the complaint and its motion for partial summary judgment." The amended complaint would just add "allegations challenging the recent Global De Minimis Order," and the company's partial summary judgment motion explains why that order is unlawful for reasons the company has already laid out before the court.
"The government has briefed and argued these issues at length in this case and others; it does not need 35 additional days to refine its arguments," the brief said. If the stay is dissolved, the court shouldn't give the U.S. more than 14 days to respond to the importer's arguments, Detroit Axle argued.
However, if the request to dissolve the stay is denied, there's no need for the court "to say anything about what happens when the stay expires -- let alone grant the government an additional 21-day grace period so that the parties can negotiate a 'proposed briefing schedule,'" the brief said. When the stay expires, Detroit Axle said, it "intends immediately to renew its motions to amend the complaint and for summary judgment," adding that the government's response to those motions "will be governed by the local rules, so there is no need for a negotiated briefing schedule."