Customs duty

The following lawsuits were filed at the Court of International Trade during the week of March 29 - April 4:

The Court of International Trade found that President Donald Trump violated procedural time limits when expanding Section 232 tariffs to steel and aluminum “derivatives,” in an April 5 decision granting refunds to steel nail importer PrimeSource Building Products. Judges Timothy Stanceu and Jennifer Choe-Groves, as part of a three-judge panel, struck down the tariff expansion, ruling that the president exceeded his authority to impose tariffs when he elected to extend them to derivative products. Judge M. Miller Baker, the remaining judge on the panel, dissented from the opinion.

The Customs Rulings Online Search System (CROSS) was updated March 31. The following headquarters rulings were modified recently, according to CBP:

The International Trade Commission on March 17 published Revision 1 to the Basic Edition of the 2021 Harmonized Tariff Schedule. This latest edition implements the four-month suspension of Section 301 tariffs on goods from the European Union imposed as part of the Airbus subsidy dispute at the World Trade Organization (see 2103050036).

A scholar at the market-oriented Mercatus Center, a research organization at George Mason University, said that although 25% tariffs on steel and 10% tariffs on aluminum have now been in place for three years, there's no sign they've successfully reduced global overcapacity in those metals. Christine McDaniel, a senior research fellow at the center, cited a Wall Street Journal article that found that the steel industry was not revived by the price protection from imports. McDaniel wrote in a research paper that the administration should be asked what it would achieve to leave the tariffs in place indefinitely. But if they are to stay, McDaniel said the exclusions process should be reformed.

Lawyers for the roughly 3,700 Section 301 complaints inundating the U.S. Court of International Trade reached consensus on picking the first-filed HMTX Industries-Jasco Products action as the sole sample case in the massive litigation and on seating 15 among their ranks for the plaintiffs’ steering committee, HMTX-Jasco counsel Akin Gump said in the lawyers’ “coordinated proposal” March 19. Though plaintiffs “cannot guarantee 100% agreement on every issue on behalf of every single counsel,” they are “not aware of any objection to this proposal after repeated consultations and opportunities for review,” it said.

The International Trade Commission released the 2021 Basic Edition of the U.S. Harmonized Tariff Schedule March 15. The new edition, which follows three “preliminary” updates issued earlier this year, implements the recently announced four-month pause on Section 301 tariffs on goods from the United Kingdom, effective March 4 (see 2103040043). It also adds a new provision on the USMCA tariff-rate quota for sugar-containing products from Canada. The four-month suspension of Section 301 tariffs on all European Union goods, which took effect March 11 (see 2103120047), is not implemented in this edition.

The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, acting at the “direction” of President Donald Trump, had the authority under the 1974 Trade Act to impose the lists 3 and 4A Section 301 tariffs on Chinese imports, argued a Department of Justice "master answer" filed March 12 in one among a series of “anticipated defenses” it plans to mount against the massive litigation inundating the U.S. Court of International Trade. The defenses were layered with a series of fallback arguments, some contradicting others. Lawyers asked about the filing said the tactic is common, based on the proven strategy that DOJ needs only one argument to stick.

The National Association of Beverage Importers gave a “standing ovation” to the mutual four-month suspension of tariffs between the European Union and the U.S. on March 10, it said in an emailed statement. “The early nomination and confirmation hearing for Katherine Tai as the 19th United States Trade Representative and the recent mutual suspensions announced by the United Kingdom, European Union, and United States are outstanding outcomes of the new Administration’s skills at multi-tasking crucial policy challenges on COVID vaccine distributions, economic relief, supply chain sustainability, and trade policies,” NABI President Robert Tobiassen said. “With Ms. Tai’s pending confirmation by the Senate, the future of trade for the U.S. feels so much more positive.”

The 15% tariffs on civil aircraft and 25% tariffs on about 150 tariff lines of products including liquor, Italian food and beverages, lenses, Greek yogurt, Spanish pork and more were lifted at 12:01 a.m. March 11, and will remain suspended until midnight July 10.