BGI Group, doing business as U.S. Cabinet Depot, evaded the antidumping and countervailing duty orders on wooden cabinets and vanities from China, CBP said in a Jan. 27 Enforce and Protect Act determination. BGI evaded the orders by misrepresenting the country of origin of its entries as Vietnam, the agency said. While BGI maintained that its Vietnamese supplier, HOCA Vietnam, further processed components from China, CBP said that the orders' scope language still includes such products.
The following are short summaries of recent CBP NY rulings issued by the agency's National Commodity Specialist Division in New York:
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit allowed the American Steel Nail Coalition to appear as amicus curiae in a dispute over whether the president properly expanded the Section 232 steel and aluminum tariffs onto "derivative" products made beyond procedural deadlines. In the brief, the coalition urged the Federal Circuit to uphold this extension since it had a positive impact on the U.S. industry and the issue was already decided in the key case Transpacific Steel v. U.S. (see 2201100059). In Transpacific, the Federal Circuit greenlighted presidential action taken beyond procedural time limits so long as it is part of the original plan of action laid out in the Commerce Secretary's report preceding the Section 232 tariffs (see 2107130059) (PrimeSource Building Products v. United States, Fed. Cir. #21-2066).
The Court of International Trade heard oral argument on Feb. 1 over whether lists 3 and 4A of Section 301 tariffs were properly imposed, marking one of the largest cases in the CIT's history. The hourslong affair saw the judges push back on arguments made by both the Department of Justice and the plaintiffs, with significant attention paid to the procedural elements of the president's decision to impose the retaliatory Section 301 tariffs on billions of dollars worth of Chinese goods. In all, the three-judge panel of Mark Barnett, Claire Kelly and Jennifer Choe-Groves heard from the Department of Justice, counsel for the test case plaintiffs HMTX Industries and Jasco Products, and amici.
The Court of International Trade sent an antidumping case back to the Commerce Department with instructions to perform verification of the respondent's information or respond to the arguments made by the plaintiffs, led by the Bonney Forge Corporation. Commerce originally opted not to conduct verification in India due to COVID-19, issuing an additional questionnaire instead. The plaintiffs asked the agency to conduct a virtual verification, to which Commerce didn't reply. Judge Stephen Vaden ordered Commerce to either conduct verification, as Commerce must reply to all arguments made in good faith, or explain why it can't. Vaden also said that if Commerce finds that verification remains impossible, it should explain why senior DOJ and Cabinet officials can travel to India, but it is not safe for bureaucrats with "statutory responsibilities to do the same, even if only virtually."
The following are short summaries of recent CBP NY rulings issued by the agency's National Commodity Specialist Division in New York:
The 15% tariff on most solar panels and the 15% tariff on imported solar cells past a 2.5 gigawatt threshold are slated to expire Feb. 6, and, according to Reuters, the White House is considering accepting some of the International Trade Commission's recommendations on extending the solar panel and cell safeguard, and rejecting others. The ITC recommended reducing the current 15% rate by just .25% in 2022, and by another quarter point each year, until early 2026, when the safeguard would expire.
The following are short summaries of recent CBP NY rulings issued by the agency's National Commodity Specialist Division in New York:
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit should uphold a lower court decision that found that CBP's "indirect method" for weighing importer New Image Global's tobacco wraps that included the weight of additives was legally and scientifically valid, the Department of Justice said in a Jan. 27 brief. Replying to New Image's arguments to the contrary, DOJ said that CBP properly interpreted the excise tax statute to include anything added to the tobacco wraps in the weight of the wraps (New Image Global v. United States, Fed. Cir. #19-2444).
CBP doesn't need to establish intent to defraud the U.S. in order to find an importer evaded antidumping and countervailing duties under the Enforce and Protect Act statute, CBP told the Court of International Trade in its Jan. 27 remand results. Continuing to find that Diamond Tools Technology (DTT) evaded the ADD/CVD order on diamond sawblades from China, CBP said that it only needs to show that DTT submitted false statements to prove evasion. This is in line with the purpose of the law, CBP said, since the purpose is to merely collect AD/CV duties owed to the U.S. (Diamond Tools Technology v. U.S., CIT #20-00060)