U.S. importer Houston Shutters on Oct. 16 told the Court of International Trade that the Commerce Department improperly declined to open a changed circumstances review to exclude wood shutter components from the scope of the antidumping and countervailing duty orders on wood moldings and millwork products from China. Filing a complaint at the trade court, Houston Shutters said Commerce bucked its statutory mandate that the agency "shall conduct a review" (Houston Shutters v. U.S., CIT # 24-00193)
Court of International Trade
The United States Court of International Trade is a federal court which has national jurisdiction over civil actions regarding the customs and international trade laws of the United States. The Court was established under Article III of the Constitution by the Customs Courts Act of 1980. The Court consists of nine judges appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate and is located in New York City. The Court has jurisdiction throughout the United States and has exclusive jurisdictional authority to decide civil action pertaining to international trade against the United States or entities representing the United States.
A German exporter of forged steel fluid end blocks brought a complaint Oct. 16 to the Court of International Trade arguing that the Commerce Department, in a review of the antidumping duty order on its products, illegally expanded the scope of the AD order to include forged steel products that weren’t fluid end blocks (BGH Edelstahl Siegen GmbH v. U.S., CIT # 24-00176).
The U.S. will pay over $3 million in duty refunds with interest to importer Kiswire related to duty payments the company paid on its wire rod entries from South Korea. Filing a stipulated judgment with the Court of International Trade on Oct. 16, Kiswire and the government agreed to settle Kiswire's challenge against the antidumping duties assessed on its imports (Kiswire v. U.S., CIT Consol. # 22-00181).
Three wildlife advocacy groups on Oct. 15 asked the Court of International Trade for expedited briefing in their suit challenging various federal agencies' alleged failure to ban fish or fish products exported from fisheries that don't meet U.S. bycatch standards under the Marine Mammal Protection Act. The groups claimed their case is ripe for expedited treatment since the "public interest in enforcement of the statute is particularly strong" and failure to expedite would make the requested relief moot (Natural Resources Defense Council v. United States, CIT # 24-00148).
Importer Cozy Comfort Co. and the U.S. submitted additional briefing ahead of their trial next week at the Court of International Trade on the tariff classification of The Comfy -- a wearable blanket imported by Cozy Comfort (Cozy Comfort Co. v. United States, CIT # 22-00173).
After the Court of International Trade remanded the 323.12% adverse facts available antidumping duty rate received by an Indian quartz countertop exporter that missed a 10 a.m. deadline by five hours during the COVID-19 pandemic (see 2405290065), all parties reached a settlement would see the exporter get a new rate of 3.58% (Cambria Co. v. U.S., CIT Consol. # 23-00007).
The Commerce Department improperly found that its off-grid solar charging modules didn't qualify for two exclusions to the antidumping and countervailing duty orders on solar cells from China, U.S. importer GameChange Solar Corp. argued Oct. 15. Filing a complaint at the Court of International Trade, GameChange said the agency illegally "disregarded, discounted, and mischaracterized contradictory information on the record including photographs submitted" by the importer (GameChange Solar Corp. v. United States, CIT # 24-00174).
In oral arguments Oct. 8, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit indicated that the plaintiff challenging an Enforce and Protect Act evasion finding whose entries have all already been liquidated was likely not going to succeed in reversing the dismissal of its case by the Court of International Trade (see 2208180045) (All One God Faith v. U.S., Fed. Cir. # 23-1078).
The U.S. on Oct. 15 urged the Court of International Trade to dismiss a suit from importer Retractable Technologies challenging the recent 100% increase of Section 301 tariffs on needles and syringes from China. The government said the trade court lacks jurisdiction to "second-guess the President's findings" and discretion in telling the U.S. trade representative to modify the Section 301 action and that the company failed to state a claim on which relief could be provided (Retractable Technologies v. United States, CIT # 24-00185).
The Court of International Trade on Oct. 15 limited the scope of the testimony that will be offered by two of the government's witnesses in a customs spat on the classification of The Comfy, a wearable blanket imported by Cozy Comfort Co. Judge Stephen Vaden said fashion industry professional Patricia Concannon can testify only on topics related to the "sale, marketing, and merchandising of apparel," and that CBP national import specialist Renee Orsat "may not testify about opinions she formed during the Customs’ classification process."