World Trade Organization members initiated membership consideration for Turkmenistan at a Feb. 23 General Council meeting, the WTO said. Turkmenistan's application, officially received in November, originally was set to be considered at the 12th Ministerial Conference the next month until the conference was postponed due to COVID-19. In the meeting's stead, the General Council agreed to set up a working party to oversee accession negotiations with the Central Asian country.
CBP began a formal investigation of 10 companies for allegedly evading antidumping duty and countervailing duty orders by importing Chinese quartz countertops. In the Enforce and Protect Act investigation, CBP will consider whether Big D, Colorquartz, Cumberland, Durian, Flowery Stone, Kat, Kingway, Nio, Nomadic and Opal evaded AD order A-570-084 and CVD order C-570-085 by transshipping Chinese quartz countertops through Malaysia.
The following are short summaries of recent CBP NY rulings issued by the agency's National Commodity Specialist Division in New York:
The Court of International Trade denied both importer Cyber Power Systems (USA) Inc.'s and the DOJ's motions for judgment in a case over the country of origin of Cyber Power's uninterruptible power supplies and surge voltage protector, ordering that the case go to trial. For these imports, many of their components came from China but were completed in the Philippines. Judge Leo Gordon said that the U.S. failed to show that the process in the Philippines constituted a "simple assembly" but also that Cyber Power failed to show that the goods were "substantially transformed" in the Philippines enough change their origin. The judge gave the parties until March 7 to submit a proposed scheduling order to lay out the next steps for a trial.
The following are short summaries of recent CBP NY rulings issued by the agency's National Commodity Specialist Division in New York:
A Commerce Department scope ruling improperly found two-ply hardwood plywood falls under the antidumping duty and countervailing duty orders on hardwood plywood from China because the scope language clearly says that subject merchandise consists of a minimum of three plies, said three companies, Vietnam Finewood, Far East American and Liberty Woods, in a Feb. 18 complaint at the Court of International Trade (Vietnam Finewood Company Ltd. v. U.S., CIT #22-00049).
The Court of International Trade on Feb. 22 ruled that Formpack, a flexible packaging material imported by Amcor Flexibles Kreuzlignen, is classifiable as "other" backed aluminum foil, rather than aluminum foil decorated with a pattern or design. Siding with the plaintiff, Judge Gary Katzmann said that Formpack is classified under the duty free subheading 7607.20.50. CBP originally classified the entries under subheading 7607.20.10, which is dutiable at 3.7% and provides for aluminum foil "covered or decorated with a character, design, fancy effect or pattern." Since the text on Formpack is communicative text not decorative, it doesn't belong under CBP's subheading, Amcor successfully argued.
The Supreme Court should deny a bid to review the president's authority under the Section 232 national security tariff provision, the U.S. said in a Feb. 17 reply brief. Arguing that greater deference and flexibility are accorded the president in a national security context, the Department of Justice told the nation's highest court that the president lawfully adjusted tariff action under Section 232 beyond procedural timelines. The Supreme Court also previously ruled that Section 232 isn't an improper delegation of authority and the petitioners haven't shown this decision to be wrongly decided, the brief said (Transpacific Steel LLC, et al. v. United States, U.S. #21-721).
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 International Trade should deny the Department of Justice's motion to add a November 2018 investigatory “update” report from the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative to the administrative record in the Section 301 litigation (see 2202160033) because the government has failed to show that USTR “actually relied on or considered” the report when it was deciding to impose either the Lists 3 or List 4A tariffs on Chinese imports, Akin Gump lawyers for sample-case plaintiffs HMTX Industries and Jasco Products said in a partial opposition brief filed Feb. 16.