The Court of International Trade on April 15 denied importer Under the Weather's motion for leave to amend its complaint to add a claim regarding CBP's prior tariff treatment of its imported pop-up tent "pods." Judge Timothy Reif said the proposed amended complaint "was filed after undue delay and is futile." The importer received duty-free treatment for the pods from 2010-18, but that ultimately ended in 2020 following an HQ ruling from CBP. The trade court previously rejected a claim from Under the Weather that CBP had to allow for a notice-and-comment period with the HQ ruling, since the agency previously accorded the pods a given tariff treatment. Under the Weather then tried to amend its complaint to newly cite two alleged examinations of the pods by CBP. Reif rejected the motion, finding that the importer waited too long to raise the issue and that the issue would be futile, since it "would not survive a motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim."
The conservative Liberty Justice Center brought a lawsuit on behalf of five importers to challenge the constitutionality of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act as a source of tariff-setting authority. The complaint, filed April 14 at the Court of International Trade, makes two claims: President Donald Trump's "reciprocal" tariffs exceed the president's statutory authority under IEEPA and, even if this statutory authority exists, it's an "unconstitutional delegation of legislative authority" (V.O.S. Selections v. Donald J. Trump, CIT # 25-00066).
CBP improperly declined to accept the proper valuation of various iron and steel products imported by NOA Brands America, the importer argued in an April 10 complaint at the Court of International Trade (NOA Brands America v. United States, CIT # 23-00109).
In April 8 oral argument involving a large number of parties, Court of International Trade Judge Jane Restani said she thinks she knows how she’ll rule on a petitioner’s Tier 2 price benchmark question about whether Kazakh natural gas export prices are available to Russian purchasers (Archer Daniels Midland Co. v. United States, CIT # 23-00239).
Counsel for two members of the Blackfeet Nation tribe that recently filed a lawsuit against the recent tariff action taken by President Donald Trump told us that she believes jurisdiction to be proper in the U.S. District Court for the District of Montana. Monica Tranel, the attorney for Montana state Sen. Susan Webber and rancher Jonathan St. Goddard, also said that she believes she can obtain a preliminary injunction against the spate of tariffs recently imposed on Canada due to the size of the harm to the agriculture and tourism industry in western Montana.
Court of International Trade Judge Timothy Reif sustained in part and remanded in part the Commerce Department’s final determination in its review of chlorinated isocyanurate from China. He affirmed the agency's consideration of Romania as a potential surrogate, saying that a delay in the submission of Romania as a surrogate hadn’t rendered that submission untimely. He also sustained Commerce’s usual practice with regard to surrogate selection, citing Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo, and its decision to exclude Mexico as a potential surrogate. But he remanded Commerce's finding that calcium hypochlorite and sodium hypochlorite are “comparable” to chlorinated isos, saying clorinated isos aren’t “industrial commodity chemicals” (Bio-Lab v. U.S., CIT Consol. # 24-00024).
A group of five companies filed a complaint at the Court of International Trade challenging the president's authority to impose tariffs under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act. The complaint, drafted by the conservative Liberty Justice Center, says President Donald Trump's use of IEEPA to impose "reciprocal" tariffs "exceeds his statutory authority." The lawsuit adds that even if IEEPA grants this authority, it amounts to an "unconstitutional delegation of legislative authority." The lawsuit is the third of its kind to challenge the use of IEEPA to impose tariffs but is the first to be filed at the trade court.
The Court of International Trade's Pay.gov system will undergo maintenance on April 12 from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. EDT, the court said. The court noted that documents requiring payment through Pay.gov can't be filed on CM/ECF during the time of the maintenance.
The Commerce Department unreasonably failed to consider information in a scope ruling application regarding calcium glycinate and an International Trade Commission report in excluding the calcium glycinate from various antidumping duty and countervailing duty orders on glycine, the Court of International Trade held on April 10. Judge Joseph Laroski called out Commerce for pulling a "single insight" from the ITC report "while inexplicably ignoring other pertinent information" in the report.
Members of the Senate Agriculture Committee on April 8 pressed Stephen Vaden, nominee for USDA deputy secretary, on how President Donald Trump's slew of tariff action will impact USDA and agriculture issues.