Mayur Patel, former chief international trade counsel to the chair of the Senate Finance Committee, has joined Hogan Lovells as a partner in the international trade and investment practice, the firm announced. As a Senate staffer, Patel played a key role in overseeing "major Trump-era trade measures," the firm said. Prior to joining the Senate, Patel worked as associate general counsel in the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative.
Scott Wise, former assistant general counsel for global trade at Microsoft, has joined Crowell & Moring as a partner in the international trade group, the firm announced. At Microsoft, Wise was the lead attorney on economic sanctions and outbound investment issues regarding emerging technologies, such as AI and quantum computing, the firm said.
The U.S. moved the Court of International Trade to dismiss importer Tri State Honey's suit against CBP's detention of its 11 honey shipments, arguing that the case was untimely filed. The government said that since the case had to be brought 180 days from CBP's protest denial, which was April 25, and Tri State filed suit on April 29, "the case is untimely and therefore barred" (Tri State Honey v. United States, CIT # 25-00080).
Importer Wabtec told the Court of International Trade that a recent CIT decision calls into question the Commerce Department's practice of covering upstream components of goods actually imported or sold in the U.S. in antidumping cases. Filing a notice of supplemental authority on June 27, Wabtec said that while CIT Judge Timothy Stanceu didn't affirmatively resolve this question, his discussion is "highly relevant to the matter here" (Wabtec Corporation v. U.S., CIT #s 23-00160, -00161).
The Forced Labor Enforcement Task Force failed to undertake a transparent process in considering exporter Ninestar's application for delisting from the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act Entity List, Ninestar told the Court of International Trade on June 26. Ninestar said FLETF's process was neither "fair, transparent," nor "productive," and led the task force to ignore its obligations and the company's rights under the Administrative Procedure Act (Ninestar Corp. v. United States, CIT # 23-00182).
The U.S. filed its opening brief on June 27 in the appeal on the legality of the tariffs imposed under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, arguing that the district court got the jurisdiction and merits questions wrong. The government said the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia took a "nonsensical" view of the Court of International Trade's jurisdiction and that, contrary to the court's ruling, IEEPA does confer tariff-setting authority (Learning Resources v. Donald J. Trump, D.C. Cir. # 25-5202).
The Court of International Trade on June 23 proposed amendments to various of its practice rules and forms following recommendations from the court's Advisory Committee on Rules.
Importer Briggs & Stratton on June 26 voluntarily dropped its lawsuit at the Court of International Trade, which was brought to contest CBP's assessment of excess duties, taxes and fees on its engine parts and components (see 2301250071). The importer argued that the duties were added due to clerical and technical errors. The case was previously dismissed for lack of prosecution, though the trade court re-added it to the court's docket after the company asked for relief (see 2502040015). Counsel for Briggs & Stratton didn't respond to a request for comment on the reason for dismissal (Briggs & Stratton Corp. v. United States, CIT # 23-00014).
Importer American Eel Depot filed a pair of complaints at the Court of International Trade on June 27 to contest CBP's classification of its frozen roasted eel under Harmonized Tariff Schedule subheading 1604.17.10 and secondary subheading 9903.88.03, subjecting the goods to Section 301 duties. The company argued that its goods aren't products of China but, in fact, have a country of origin of the U.S. (American Eel Depot v. United States, CIT # 21-00278, -00279).
The Supreme Court's recent decision to eliminate nationwide injunctions won't impact the Court of International Trade, attorneys told us. The trade court is a court of national jurisdiction and will keep the right to issue nationwide injunctions for issues within its jurisdiction, the attorneys said.