Greenberg Traurig launched an international trade practice in its Mexico City office, the firm announced Jan. 8. The firm said Guillermo Sanchez Chao will serve as the practice area's first shareholder after joining from Chevez Ruiz Zamarripa. Sanchez Chao's practice will center on "international trade, customs, supply chain and administrative litigation," the firm said.
President Joe Biden renewed the nominations of Joseph Laroski and Lisa Wang to the Court of International Trade after the original nominations were returned to the president due to inaction in the full Senate. The Senate Judiciary Committee in September approved the nominations of Wang, assistant secretary of commerce for enforcement and compliance, and Laroski, partner at Schagrin Associates, with votes of 12-9 and 18-3, respectively (see 2309140054). When forwarded for Senate confirmation, no action was taken in 2023.
The following lawsuits were filed recently at the Court of International Trade:
The Court of International Trade issued its judgment in a customs case on action camera maker GoPro Inc.'s camera housings just under two weeks after issuing its opinion in the case. In the Dec. 28 opinion, the court said the camera housings are camera parts and not cases, able to enter the U.S. duty-free (see 2312280038). On Jan. 9, Judge Timothy Reif granted GoPro's motion for summary judgment (GoPro Inc. v. U.S., CIT Consol. # 20-00176).
Tire exporters Guizhou Tyre Co. and Aeolus Tyre Co. asked for 6,000 more words for their opening brief after the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit rejected their bid to submit two separate briefs. The companies noted that they received the government's consent and there's "good cause" to expand the word count (Guizhou Tyre Co. v. United States, Fed. Cir. # 23-2163).
The Court of International Trade on Jan. 8 opinion rejected a U.S. request to redact information in the court's recent opinion sustaining an International Trade Commission affirmative injury finding in antidumping and countervailing duty cases on mattresses.
The following lawsuits were filed recently at the Court of International Trade:
Antidumping petitioner Mid Continent Steel & Wire will appeal a January Court of International Trade decision sustaining the sixth AD review of steel nails from Oman in which the Commerce Department dropped its use of adverse facts available against exporter Oman Fasteners (see 2401050018). As stated in a notice of appeal, the petitioner will take the case to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. The notice of appeal was filed before a public version of the trade court's decision was released (Oman Fasteners v. U.S., CIT # 22-00348).
Parties in a case on the 2020 countervailing duty review on steel concrete reinforcing bar from Turkey disagreed on the impact of the Court of International Trade's ruling in a separate suit concerning the 2018 review of the same CVD order. Filing a joint status report to the trade court on Jan. 8, the U.S. and exporter Kaptan Demir Celik Endustrisi ve Ticaret said no consensus has been reached and "none of the parties have changed their position," though Kaptan said the court's decision "dictates the outcome of this proceeding given virtually identical facts" (Kaptan Demir Celik Endustrisi ve Ticaret v. United States, CIT # 22-00149).
The U.S. and importer SGS Sports submitted a stipulation of facts and joint motion for the entry of a judgment in a customs case on the classification of reimported swimsuits, avoiding a bench trial over whether the swimsuits qualify for Harmonized Tariff Schedule subheading 9801.00.20 as U.S. goods returned (SGS Sports v. United States, CIT # 18-00128).