Rick Sofield, former partner at Vinson & Elkins, joined Debevoise & Plimpton as co-head of the national security practice based in Washington, D.C., the firm announced. Sofield will center his practice on security reviews by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. and other cross-border transactions and investments. Sofield previously was director of the Foreign Investment Review Staff for DOJ's National Security Division.
The sixth iteration of a draft consolidated text on World Trade Organization reform was circulated to WTO members on Jan. 29, the global trade body announced. WTO members were briefed on the latest updates regarding informal talks on dispute settlement reform during a Jan. 26 meeting of the Dispute Settlement Body, and the WTO said it expects final comments on the text will be incorporated the week of Feb. 5. A final draft text is expected by Feb. 9.
The following trade-related lawsuit was recently filed at the Court of International Trade:
The U.S. swapped out its lead counsel in an antidumping duty case brought by importer Repwire and exporter Jin Tiong Electrical Materials Manufacturer at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit after its counsel, Eric Singley, left DOJ. The government said in a Jan. 26 notice that it will slot DOJ attorney Kelly Geddes into the lead counsel role. Jin Tiong and Repwire filed the appeal to contest the government's finding that Jin Tiong wasn't eligible for a separate AD rate in the 2019-20 AD review of aluminum wire and cable from China because it didn't submit a separate rate application, even though a separate rate questionnaire was accidentally sent to it (Repwire v. U.S. , Fed. Cir. # 23-1933).
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit on Jan. 26 gave the U.S. another 14 days to file its response to a group of solar panel exporters' bid for rehearing of the appellate court's ruling that President Donald Trump properly revoked a tariff exclusion for bifacial solar panels. The government has until Feb. 16 to submit its brief, which was invited by the court following the rehearing motion (see 2401220027) (Solar Energy Industries Association v. U.S., Fed. Cir. # 22-1392).
Various importers and exporters are looking to intervene in a suit from solar cell maker Auxin Solar and solar module designer Concept Clean Energy challenging the Commerce Department's pause of antidumping and countervailing duties on solar cells and modules from Southeast Asian countries found to be circumventing the AD/CVD orders on these goods from China (Auxin Solar v. United States, CIT # 23-00274).
A Commerce Department scope ruling on T-series aluminum sheet "would overturn more than 10 years of black-letter law related to scope inquiries," importer Valeo North America told the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit on Jan. 26. Filing an opening brief at the appellate court, Valeo said that Commerce bucked the traditional framework for finding if a good is within the scope of an antidumping and countervailing duty order by extending "beyond the express scope language" to rely on improper (k)(1) factors (Valeo North America v. United States, Fed. Cir. # 24-1189).
DOJ likely will continue expanding its cooperation with foreign governments in investigating and prosecuting Foreign Corrupt Practices Act violations, Miller & Chevalier lawyer John Davis said in an interview. After a year that saw DOJ cooperate with South Africa and Colombia for the first time, Davis said, the agency will seek to work with more Latin American and European nations on FCPA enforcement.
Cape Verde formally accepted the agreement on fisheries subsidies Jan. 26, the World Trade Organization announced. Fifty-six members have now accepted the deal, which is just over half the number needed to make a two-thirds majority for ratification.
The following trade-related lawsuits were recently filed at the Court of International Trade: