A knit underwear importer’s products weren’t correctly classified under the secondary Harmonized Tariff Schedule heading 9817 for clothing “specially designed” for “physically or mentally handicapped persons,” the U.S. said June 27, which would have exempted them from a 15% antidumping duty on their products (Viecura v. United States, CIT Consol. # 21-00154).
Importer Crutchfield filed an amicus brief on June 26 in the appeal before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit on the legality of the tariffs imposed under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act. Crutchfield argued that President Donald Trump's claim that IEEPA grants the president "unilateral and unreviewable authority to impose, increase, decrease, suspend, or alter tariffs on virtually every country in the world" can't be squared with the statute's plain language and the U.S. Constitution (V.O.S. Selections v. Trump, Fed. Cir. # 25-1812).
A Thai wheel exporter and three importers filed their opening bid at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit challenge a trade court ruling that their products, wheels made with some Chinese-origin components, originated from China rather than Thailand (Asia Wheel Co. v. United States, Fed. Cir. # 25-1689).
The following are short summaries of recent CBP NY rulings issued by the agency's National Commodity Specialist Division in New York:
The U.S. filed its opening brief on June 24 in its appeal of the Court of International Trade ruling vacating the executive orders implementing tariffs under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, arguing that CIT got it wrong "at every turn." The government told the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit that the trade court "properly did not question whether IEEPA authorizes as a general matter," though the court improperly suggested that "giving effect to IEEPA’s text would create constitutional concerns, invoking the nondelegation doctrine" (V.O.S. Selections v. Donald J. Trump, Fed. Cir. # 25-1812).
The Court of International Trade on June 24 in a confidential decision sustained the Commerce Department's antidumping duty investigation on lemon juice from Brazil. In a letter to the litigants, Judge Claire Kelly said she intends to issue a public version of the decision on or shortly after July 2. Kelly previously remanded the investigation so the agency could redo its analysis of whether respondent Louis Dreyfus and its unnamed supplier, Supplier A, are affiliated or are partners (see 2411180024). Kelly said Commerce failed to consider whether Louis Drefyfus has the "ability to control Supplier A," and whether the supplier is "reliant" on the respondent. On remand, Commerce continued to find that Louis Dreyfus and Supplier A aren't affiliated, nor are they partners (see 2502180037). The agency said it's important to distinguish "exclusivity" from "reliance" in affiliation analyses, noting that an exclusive relationship with a supplier doesn't mean a party isn't capable of acting independently if the exclusive relationship is no longer in its interests (Ventura Coastal v. United States, CIT # 23-00009).
Replying to U.S. opposition to its motion for judgment, shopping bag exporter Ditar said June 19 that the government still hasn’t addressed substantial evidence that Ditar’s home market sales had been made at “a more remote and significantly different level of trade” than its U.S. sales, justifying an adjustment in an antidumping duty investigation on Colombian paper shopping bags (Ditar v. United States, CIT # 24-00130).
Antidumping duty petitioner The Coalition for Fair Trade in Ceramic Tile challenged the Commerce Department's AD investigation on ceramic tile from India, arguing that the agency erred in its collapsing and affiliation analyses regarding the two mandatory respondents. The result of the investigation was a zero percent margin for the respondents, Antiqa Minerals and Win-Tel Ceramics (The Coalition for Fair Trade in Ceramic Tile v. United States, CIT # 25-00095).
CBP was right to find that Dominican aluminum exporter Kingtom Aluminio relied on forced labor to produce its merchandise, defendant-intervenors led by Aluminum Extruders Council and the United Steel, Paper and Forestry union said June 16 (Kingtom Aluminio v. United States, CIT # 24-00264).
The Court of International Trade on June 20 upheld the International Trade Commission's affirmative injury determination on oil country tubular goods from Argentina, Mexico, Russia and South Korea. Judge Jennifer Choe-Groves reviewed and sustained the ITC's decision to cumulate the imports from the four countries and its determination regarding the imports' "volume, price effects, and impact."