In a March 5 complaint before the Court of International Trade, German importer MTU Maintenance Hannover brought a single claim disputing CBP’s classification of a mid-frame assembly used in GE Aerospace’s LM2500 gas turbine engine. It said it had just sent the U.S.-origin product back for repairs (MTU Maintenance Hannover v. United States, CIT # 25-00023).
Alexandra Hess, a former official at CBP, has rejoined Cassidy Levy as a partner in the Washington, D.C., office, the firm announced on LinkedIn. At CBP, Hess served as branch chief for entry process and duty refunds in the Office of Regulations & Rulings, where she "issued rulings and advice" on "the entry process, duty drawback, de minimis, reconciliation, bonding, antidumping and countervailing duties, temporary importation under bond, foreign trade zones, right to make entry, broker compliance and management, and quota," the firm said.
Litigants in a lawsuit on a drawback claim told the Court of International Trade in a joint status report that they don't believe the case is "amenable to mediation," though they said they are discussing whether the suit can be settled through a "stipulated judgment on agreed statement of facts." The plaintiff, individual importer Timothy Brown, said he gave the U.S. a "proposed stipulated judgment," which the U.S. is reviewing (Timothy Brown v. United States, CIT # 20-03733).
The U.S. reiterated its stance that a cigarette seller’s products were considered imported on the date of arrival for admission to a foreign-trade zone, not the date on which they left it for domestic sale. It asked the Court of International Trade to dismiss the importer’s complaint with prejudice (King Maker Marketing v. United States, CIT # 24-00134).
China opened a dispute at the World Trade Organization on Feb. 5 to challenge the new 10% tariff imposed by the U.S. on all goods from China, claiming that the measure violates the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade. China said that not only do the duties violate the U.S. government's "Schedule of Concessions and Commitments," they're also "discriminatory and protectionist in nature."
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Foreign-trade zone goods become "importations" for duty drawback purposes when they are entered for consumption into the U.S. and not when they are admitted into an FTZ, importer King Maker Marketing told the Court of International Trade. Responding to the government's motion to dismiss the company's suit challenging the rejection of its duty drawback claims, King Maker said goods in an FTZ are considered to be outside the customs territory of the U.S., making the "date of importation" the date the goods were withdrawn from the FTZ (King Maker Marketing v. United States, CIT # 24-00134).
Food that was denied entry but can be reconditioned to meet FDA requirements isn't prohibited merchandise, so it isn't eligible for a refund if it's exported or destroyed, CBP said in a recent ruling.
The Court of International Trade on Dec. 20 sustained the Commerce Department's use of surrogate financial statements from Emirates Sleep Systems Private Limited in the antidumping duty investigation on mattresses from Vietnam, despite various objections from exporters led by Ashley Furniture Industries. Judge Timothy Reif said Commerce reasonably found the statements to be complete, publicly available and the best information available.
Importer Performance Additives told the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit that the notion that Congress created a "two-track framework" for deemed liquidation of drawback claims where some claims aren't subject to deemed liquidation at all and others aren't subject to any time limit on liquidation is "nonsense." Filing a reply brief last week, the company said this interpretation of the statutory framework is "blatantly contrary to Congress' stated intent" (Performance Additives v. United States, Fed. Cir. # 24-2059).