The Commerce Department unreasonably failed to consider information in a scope ruling application regarding calcium glycinate and an International Trade Commission report in excluding the calcium glycinate from various antidumping duty and countervailing duty orders on glycine, the Court of International Trade held on April 10. Judge Joseph Laroski called out Commerce for pulling a "single insight" from the ITC report "while inexplicably ignoring other pertinent information" in the report.
Two members of the Blackfeet Nation tribe filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Montana against various tariff actions by President Donald Trump, arguing that Trump's use of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act is an "unconstitutional exercise of congressional authority." The individuals, Montana state Sen. Susan Webber and rancher Jonathan St. Goddard, also claimed that Trump's tariff orders unconstitutionally deprived them of procedural due process and are "void for vagueness."
Members of the Senate Agriculture Committee on April 8 pressed Stephen Vaden, nominee for USDA deputy secretary, on how President Donald Trump's slew of tariff action will impact USDA and agriculture issues.
The Judicial Council of the Seventh Circuit dropped a misconduct complaint against Court of International Trade Judge Stephen Vaden on April 8 concerning a letter Vaden signed pledging not to hire any law clerks from Columbia Law School due to the university's response to student protests of Israel. The judicial council said Vaden did not violate Rule 4(a) of the Judicial-Conduct Rules.
The U.S. and importer Vecoplan filed a stipulated judgment at the Court of International Trade granting duty-free treatment to the importer's grinding machines. CBP initially classified the entries, which are described as "industrial size reduction machines that operate with a single shaft rotor with cutting inserts," under Harmonized Tariff Schedule subheading 8479.89.94. This subheading covers certain machines and mechanical appliances with individual functions and comes with a 2.5% duty rate. The parties agreed to classify the goods under duty-free subheading 8479.82.00, which covers "[m]ixing, kneading, crushing, grinding, screening, sifting, homogenizing, emulsifying or stirring machines" (Vecoplan v. United States, CIT # 20-00141).
Lumber exporter Fontaine asked the Court of International Trade to order the Commerce Department to issue a Timken notice "setting Fontaine's cash deposit rate at 0.00%," reiterating the agency's intent to exclude the company from the countervailing duty order on softwood lumber from Canada and directing CBP to refund Fontaine's CVD cash deposits (Fontaine v. United States, CIT # 19-00154).
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit questioned both exporters Guizhou Tyre Co. and Aeolus Tyre Co. and the U.S. government during oral argument on the exporters' challenge to the Commerce Department's finding that Guizhou Tyre and Aeolus didn't show independence from Chinese state control in the seventh review of the antidumping duty order on new pneumatic off-the-road tires from China (Guizhou Tyre Co. v. United States, Fed. Cir. #s 23-2163, -2165).
Laura Black, former director of policy and international relations for the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S., has joined White & Case as partner in the global trade and foreign direct investment reviews practice, the firm announced. Black joins from Akin Gump, where she worked as senior counsel since 2022. Black worked at CFIUS from 2018 to 2022.
Moldova formally accepted the World Trade Organization Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies on April 8, bringing the number of countries that have accepted the deal to 96. The WTO needs 15 more countries to accept to get to two-thirds of the membership, the threshold for the agreement to take effect.
The Court of International Trade on April 8 set aside the dismissal of a customs suit brought by Printing Textiles, doing business as Berger Textiles, which was dropped for lack of prosecution. Judge Mark Barnett re-added the case to the Customs Case Management Calendar after the importer said it overlooked the deadline in the case to remain on the calendar due to a "calendaring mistake." Berger said no material delay stems from this mistake and that the U.S. didn't oppose re-adding the case to the calendar. Berger's case concerns whether coated fabric imports were properly subject to antidumping duties (see 2303150073) (Printing Textiles v. United States, CIT # 23-00062).