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."
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit gave notice to the U.S. on Oct. 15 that it has failed to respond to exporter La Molisana's notice of oral argument in a case on the 2018-19 review of the antidumping duty order on pasta from Italy. Failure to file this document "may result in dismissal or other action as deemed appropriate by the court," CAFC said in the text order (La Molisana v. United States, CIT # 23-2060).
The following lawsuit was recently filed at the Court of International Trade:
Another plaintiff in a sprawling case regarding an affirmative circumvention finding for Vietnamese hardwood plywood added its own support Oct. 15 to its side’s second motion for judgment. It said that the unusual circumstances that led the Commerce Department to essentially conduct a review of 57 companies without a mandatory respondent were “the result of its own misguided decisions” (Shelter Forest International Acquisition v. U.S., CIT Consol. # 23-00144).
The Court of International Trade on Oct. 11 sustained the Commerce Department's remand results in a case on the antidumping duty investigation on polyester textured yarn from Indonesia that slashed exporter PT. Asia Pacific Fibers' AD rate from 26.07% to 9.2%. On remand, Commerce dropped its use of adverse facts available and relied on Asia Pacific's submitted information under protest.
Georgia woman Skeeter-Jo Stoute-Francois filed a motion for judgment at the Court of International Trade on Oct. 14 contesting four questions on the October 2021 customs broker license exam, claiming that the questions "lacked sufficient information" that would have allowed her to make an "informed choice." Stoute-Francois added that some of the questions "unreasonably called for knowledge" that a test taker "would have no reasonable basis to possess" and that CBP "failed to adequately explain its decision to deny" her credit for some of the questions (Skeeter-Jo Stoute-Francois v. U.S., CIT # 24-00046).
The Court of International Trade on Oct. 15 partially granted importer Cozy Comfort Co.'s motions to exclude the testimony of witnesses offered by the government in a customs classification spat on The Comfy, a wearable blanket. Judge Stephen Vaden said the testimony of fashion industry professional Patricia Concannon should be limited to topics pertaining to the "sale, marketing, and merchandising of apparel," as opposed to the design of The Comfy. The judge also limited the testimony of CBP national import specialist Renee Orsat, ruling that she "may not testify about opinions she formed during the Customs' classification process." In addition, Vaden denied the government's bid to exclude expert testimony from outerwear designer James Crumley, who was offered as a witness by Cozy Comfort. The judge rejected the government's attacks on Crumley's reliability as a witness.
NEW YORK -- International Trade Commissioner Rhonda Schmidtlein recommended that counsel arguing before the commission more clearly articulate the source of alternative data used in injury proceedings and submit contemporaneous data before hearings, where possible. Speaking at the Court of International Trade's 22nd Judicial Conference Oct. 10 during a panel discussion on the state of trade-related agencies, Schmidtlein offered tips to arguing counsel on how to best capture the attention of the commissioners and ensure more seamless and robust hearings.