A host of complaints by Victoria's Secret and One Step Up at the Court of International Trade have been reassigned from Judge Thomas Aquilino to Judge Timothy Stanceu. The complaints concern the proper classification of women's garments over a series of entries between 2002 and 2008 (see 2203140036) and ask CIT to direct CBP to reliquidate the entries and refund the excess duties collected, with interest.
The Court of International Trade denied pig farrowing crate importer Ikadan System USA's motion for an extension of time to file its monition for judgment but stayed the case until the court sorts through the importer's motion to supplement the record. Ikadan requested the extension since it found out that certain items weren't in the administrative record. Instead of extending the briefing schedule as the plaintiff requested, Judge Leo Gordon stayed the briefing in the case until the matter is sorted out. In response, the U.S. filed a motion stating its lack of opposition to Ikadan's bid to supplement the record despite not conferring with the Justice Department. Ikadan then filed a confidential brief giving the court the missing information (Ikadan System USA v. U.S., CIT #21-00592).
The Commerce Department's decision to find that the South Korean government provided electricity below cost for certain tariff classes but still say that electricity provision conferred a non-measurable benefit is illegal, U.S. steel company Nucor Corporation said in a March 25 complaint at the Court of International Trade (Nucor Corporation v. United States, CIT #22-00070).
A recent U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit ruling is "bears directly on, and fully supports" plaintiffs Wilmar Trading's, Wilmar Bioenergi Indonesia's and Wilmar Oleo North America's arguments in an antidumping duty case over whether a particular market situation exists, the plaintiffs said in a March 21 notice of supplemental authority at the Court of International Trade. The opinion, Nexteel Co. v. U.S., set up a bright line rule over how Commerce can use its PMS authority that cuts against the PMS determination made by Commerce in the antidumping duty matter contested by the plaintiffs, the notice said (Wilmar Trading PTE v. United States, CIT Consol. #18-00121).
German exporter BGH Edestahl Siegen's claim that its higher costs preempt any countervailability findings don't comport with U.S. countervailing duty law, U.S. manufacturer Ellwood City Forge said in a March 22 brief at the Court of International Trade. Filing a motion for judgment, Ellwood said CVD statute and the Commerce Department's regulations don't dismiss subsidy programs that alleviate high costs that may be high due to government policies themselves (BGH Edestahl Siegen v. U.S., CIT #21-00080).
The Court of International Trade ruled in a March 25 opinion that CBP properly classified eight models of gloves imported by Magid Glove & Safety Manufacturing Co. under Harmonized Tariff Schedule subheading 6116.10.55, dutiable at 13.2%. Magid argued for classification in subheading 3926.20.10, free of duty. Judge Timothy Stanceu sided with the government, ruling that heading 6116 and subheading 6116.10.55 describe the gloves in question.
The Court of International Trade dismissed a case brought by the U.S. seeking over $5.7 million in unpaid duties from Katana Racing on passenger vehicle and light truck tires from China. In the March 28 opinion, Judge Thomas Aquilino found that CBP improperly pursued the violations despite indications of identity theft and that the statute of limitations had run out. "Considering CBP’s apparent recalcitrance in specifying to the defendant the actual §1592(a) violation it committed, the defendant has provided reasonable justification for its revocation of its last [statute of limitations waiver], with the result that this action is now barred by the passage of time," said Aquilino.
The Court of International Trade partially granted a motion for an injunction in an antidumping duty case, but rejected the mattress companies' bid for an open-ended injunction enjoining liquidation of their entries. Judge Timothy Reif said that the plaintiffs, led by Ashley Furniture Industries, didn't show that the threat of liquidation of their future entries don't pose irreparable harm, a likelihood of success on the merits and that the public interest is served by an open-ended injunction. The judge granted the injunction through the end of the first administrative review of the AD order.
The Court of International Trade sustained in a March 28 opinion the International Trade Commission's affirmative injury determinations in the antidumping and countervailing duty investigations into wood moldings and millwork products from China. Judge Leo Gordon held that Chinese exporter Jeld-Wen failed to make its case that laminated veneer lumber is not included in the domestic like product for wood mouldings and millwork, and that other economic factors, not imports, caused the domestic injury. On the latter point, Gordon said that Jeld-Wen needed to show that its conclusion is the only one to be drawn from the record and not the preferred one -- something the plaintiff failed to do.
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative sought confidential advice from “private-sector advisory committees,” believed to be under the Industry Trade Advisory Committee (ITAC) program managed jointly by USTR and the Commerce Department, before imposing the List 3 Section 301 tariffs on Chinese imports, Stephen Vaughn, the agency’s then-general counsel, wrote then-USTR Robert Lighthizer on Sept. 17, 2018. The document was one of about a dozen “decision memos” spanning 488 pages that DOJ filed March 24 in the Section 301 litigation docket (In Re Section 301 Cases, CIT #21-00052) at the Court of International Trade as an “appendix” to oral argument held Feb. 1 (see 2202010059).