The Court of International Trade denied Wheatland Tube Company's bid for a preliminary injunction in a case seeking to compel CBP to respond to requests for information relating to Section 232 evasion since Wheatland hasn't shown a likelihood to succeed on the merits. CBP already responded to Wheatland's requests for information and tariff classification ruling, so Wheatland hasn't shown how it could succeed in the case, Judge Timothy Stanceu said.
The Court of International Trade denied Wheatland Tube Company's bid for a preliminary injunction in a case seeking to compel CBP to respond to requests for information and a tariff classification ruling relating to Section 232 evasion since Wheatland has not shown a likelihood to succeed on the merits. CBP already responded to Wheatland's requests, so the plaintiff has not shown how it could succeed in the case, Judge Timothy Stanceu said.
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 lawsuits were recently filed at the Court of International Trade:
The Commerce Department improperly withdrew a questionnaire issued to an antidumping duty and countervailing duty respondent, Repwire and Jin Tiong said in a pair of identical complaints filed Feb. 21 at the Court of International Trade. Commerce's subsequent refusal to accept Jin Tiong's questionnaire responses led the agency to then illegally apply an adverse facts available rate, the companies said (Repwire v. United States, CIT #22-00016) (Jin Tiong Electrical Materials Manufacturer v. United States, CIT #22-00023).
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).
A flexible packaging material imported by Amcor Flexibles Kreuzlingen is classifiable as "other" backed aluminum foil, rather than aluminum foil decorated with a pattern or design, the Court of International Trade said in a Feb. 22 decision. Judge Gary Katzmann said that since the text on the foil is communicative text and not a pattern, Amcor's suggested alternative Harmonized Tariff Schedule subheading was the proper one, though he rejected the HTS heading most preferred by Amcor.
The following lawsuits were recently filed at the Court of International Trade:
Tobacco wraps importer New Image Global argued at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit that the Court of International Trade should not have allowed the results of a flawed customs test into evidence. The importer is fighting for a lower excise tax on its tobacco wraps, which were classified by the government as roll-your-own tobacco, subjecting them to the excise tax. The wraps are made with ethanol, which "gasses off" when the package is opened and the wrap is exposed to air. New Image has argued that this process will shed between 10% and 13% of the wraps' weight by the time they reach the final consumer and notes that "any lab test that finds that sealed wraps gain weight in storage and transit from the Mexican factory to the United States is inherently unreliable" (New Image Global v. United States, Fed. Cir. #19-2444).
A challenge by mattress importers to the Commerce Department's use of a statistical test in its effort to root out "masked" dumping should be dismissed because the importers suffered no injury, the Department of Justice and antidumping petitioners said in a pair of Feb. 17 reply briefs. The Court of International Trade, DOJ and the petitioners said the test was inconsequential to the antidumping duty matter, making the challenge to it moot (Ashley Furniture Industries v. United States, CIT #21-00283).