The Court of International Trade held that Section 1318(a) of the Trade Act of 1930, which lets the president grant duty-free treatment to certain goods "for use in emergency relief work," doesn't cover solar cells and modules. As a result, Judge Timothy Reif vacated the Commerce Department's duty "pause" on collection of antidumping duties and countervailing duties on solar cells and modules from Cambodia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam that were set to be collected from the four countries due to an anti-circumvention proceeding.

The Commerce Department permissibly decided not to countervail India's Advanced Authorization Scheme, which is akin to an advance drawback system, in the 2021 administrative review of the countervailing duty order on new pneumatic off-the-road tires, the Court of International Trade held in a decision made public Aug. 29.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit on Aug. 29 said President Donald Trump exceeded his authority under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act by imposing the reciprocal tariffs and tariffs on China, Canada and Mexico to combat the flow of fentanyl. Declining to address whether IEEPA categorically provides for tariffs, though spilling much ink on the topic, a majority of the court held that IEEPA doesn't confer unbounded tariff authority (V.O.S. Selections v. Donald J. Trump, Fed. Cir. #s 25-1812, -1813).

While many attorneys believe that one of the cases on the legality of President Donald Trump's tariffs is on a collision course with the Supreme Court, questions remain about exactly when the high court will review the case and in what form. One possibility would see the lead appeal, V.O.S. Selections v. Trump, which currently sits before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, head to the Supreme Court's emergency, or "shadow," docket.

Importer HyAxiom prevailed in the Court of International Trade on Aug. 26 in its case regarding the classification of its PC50 supermodules. CIT Judge Timothy Stanceu held that the products are water gas generators, not electric generators or multifunctional machines.

A law professor from Georgetown University and a former Biden administration official have differing outlooks on the future of the lawsuits on tariffs imposed under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act filed in courts. Professor Marty Lederman said he would be "very surprised" if the Federal Circuit or Supreme Court ruled against the government on non-delegation or major questions doctrine grounds. Lawyer and former federal official Peter Harrell, however, said that the courts may welcome an opportunity to curb executive power.

Importer Cozy Comfort filed its opening brief at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit on Aug. 25, arguing that the Court of International Trade was wrong to find that the company's product, The Comfy, is a pullover and not a blanket (Cozy Comfort v. United States, Fed. Cir. # 25-1889).

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The Court of International Trade on Aug. 26 vacated the National Marine Fisheries Service's comparability findings on New Zealand's West Coast North Island multispecies set-net and trawl fisheries, though the court declined to compel NMFS to issue an import ban on fish and fish products from these fisheries under the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA).

Cigarette manufacturer Scottsdale Tobacco said in an Aug. 13 motion for judgment that it was wrongly denied drawback for its Canada-origin paper-wrapped cigarettes entered in 2018 and 2019 (Scottsdale Tobacco v. United States, CIT # 24-00022).