The Court of International Trade in its April 1 remand order gave the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative “one final opportunity” to cure its Administrative Procedure Act violations and "flesh out" the reasons why it rejected the 9,000+ comments it received in the lists 3 and 4A Section 301 tariff rulemakings, without devising “new rationales for dismissing them,” Akin Gump lawyers for lead Section 301 plaintiffs HMTX Industries and Jasco Products said in comments on USTR’s Aug. 1 remand determination. “USTR’s response to that directive flunks the Court’s test,” they said (In Re Section 301 Cases, CIT #21-00052).
Importer Katana Racing Could Not Revoke of Statute of Limitations, US Tells CAFC in Unpaid Duty Case
The Court of International Trade was wrong to dismiss the government's case against importer Katana Racing seeking to collect over $5.7 million in unpaid duties due to an expired statute of limitations, the U.S. argued in its Sept. 13 opening brief at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. The government's suit was in fact timely filed since Katana could not revoke its waiver of the statute of limitations, the brief said. The U.S. said no law backs the finding that such a waiver could be revoked and stop the government from filing suit for unpaid duties, and that the trade court's ruling "leads to absurd results" (U.S. v. Katana Racing, Fed. Cir. #22-1832).
CBP recently asked Commerce for a scope ruling in an Enforce and Protect Act investigation involving whether imports of rough fittings originated in China and processed in Vietnam prior are evading the antidumping duty order on carbon steel butt-weld pipe fittings from China (A-570-814), according to a recently released Sept. 6 notice.
Three importers evaded antidumping and countervailing duties on cast iron soil pipe from China (A-570-079/C-570-080), CBP said in a Sept. 6 Enforce and Protect Act determination released in recent days. In EAPA consolidated case 7621, CBP found that Granite Plumbing Products, Little Fireflies International and Phoenix Metal entered soil pipe from China covered by the antidumping and countervailing duty orders by transshipping through Cambodia.
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The Court of International Trade should reject a motion from defendant Zhe "John" Liu to strike various paragraphs of the U.S.'s complaint in a Section 592 penalty case, the U.S. argued in a Sept. 8 reply brief. DOJ argued that Liu cannot show that his knowledge and experience -- the content of the paragraphs contested by Liu -- are not material to the issues in the case and thus should not be struck (United States v. Zhe "John" Liu, CIT #22-00215).
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit in a Sept. 7 opinion affirmed the conviction and sentence of Iranian national Mehrdad Ansari for violating the International Emergency Economic Powers Act. The U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas convicted Ansari for his role in a scheme to obtain military sensitive parts for Iran in violation of the Iran trade embargo. The appellate court upheld his conviction, rejecting his two constitutional arguments against the district court's ruling and Ansari's evidentiary claims (United States v. Ansari, 5th Cir. #21-50915).
The following are short summaries of recent CBP NY rulings issued by the agency's National Commodity Specialist Division in New York:
Argentina has requested dispute consultations with Peru at the World Trade Organization over Peru's antidumping and countervailing duties on biodiesel from Argentina, the WTO announced. Argentina is contesting six measures imposed by Peru: 1) the original CVD investigation, 2) the original AD investigation, 3) the CVD changed circumstances review, 4) the AD changed circumstances review, 5) the CVD sunset review, and 6) the AD sunset review.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit changed the label on a key antidumping duty decision from "nonprecedential" to "precedential." The decision stated that the Commerce Department cannot select just one mandatory respondent in an antidumping duty review where multiple exporters have requested a review (see 2208290026). The appellate court said that Commerce's interpretation of the statute finding that it can use only one respondent runs "contrary to the statute's unambiguous language." The judges ruled the agency has not shown it to be otherwise reasonable to calculate the all-others rate based on only one respondent and said the directive to find a weighted average gives no reason that it's reasonable to use only a single rate. The decision was originally listed as "nonprecedential," but the court later reversed that (YC Rubber Co. v. United States, Fed. Cir. #21-1489).