The U.S. moved to transfer the State of California's lawsuit challenging President Donald Trump's authority to issue tariffs under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act to the Court of International Trade. With the April 17 motion, the government has now moved to transfer all three cases filed in federal district courts to the trade court (State of California v. Donald J. Trump, N.D. Cal. # 3:25-03372).
The Commerce Department's inclusion of Export Packers Company's imported garlic in the antidumping duty order on fresh garlic isn't backed by substantial evidence, the Court of International Trade held on April 18. Judge Jane Restani said that Commerce's focus on two prior scope rulings concerning garlic blanched in boiling water is "misplaced" and that the agency's remaining (k)(2) analysis is "similarly flawed."
The Court of International Trade on April 18 upheld the International Trade Commission's preliminary negative injury determination on aluminum extrusions from the Dominican Republic. Judge Lisa Wang rejected all three claims from petitioners U.S. Aluminum Extruders Coalition and United Steelworkers, which challenged the ITC's conclusions that the Dominican imports were negligible, there was "no likelihood of contrary evidence to arise in the final phase which would warrant a non-negligibility determination" and the Dominican imports didn't have the "potential to exceed the negligibility threshold in the imminent future."
The Court of International Trade ruled April 21 almost completely in favor of sink importer R.H. Peterson, finding that most of the disputed components for, and all of the value added to, the importer’s sinks shouldn’t have been included in the sinks’ dutiable value. Judge Jennifer Choe-Groves held that the U.S. was allowed in this instance to adopt a position contrary to CBP’s during the administrative proceeding. She also refused to award attorneys fees, saying the importer hadn’t provided an adequate explanation as to why the government’s litigation position had been unjustified (R.H. Peterson v. U.S., CIT # 20-00099).
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit on April 21 held to a strict interpretation of the principle of finality of liquidation, ruling that the Court of International Trade can't consider equitable reasons for ordering reliquidation of finally liquidated entries. Judges Richard Taranto and Raymond Chen said the trade court can't order reliquidation beyond the statutory exceptions, which specifically refer to filing a protest with CBP or a civil action at the trade court. Judge Jimmie Reyna dissented from the ruling, arguing that the majority misapprehends CBP's protest procedures and improperly limits "CIT’s authority to enforce its judgments to a level that is inferior" to the full authority of an Article III court.
Plywood importer Interglobal Forest defended April 10 its attempt to have the Court of International Trade take judicial notice of three items from other proceedings: a stipulated judgment, a motion for entry of confession of judgment and a discovery response (American Pacific Plywood v. United States, CIT Consol. # 20-03914).
Antidumping duty petitioners, led by Brooklyn Bedding, will appeal a February Court of International Trade decision sustaining the Commerce Department's AD investigation on mattresses from Indonesia. In the ruling, the trade court said Commerce properly excluded in-transit mattresses from the calculation of constructed export price for respondent PT. Zinus Global Indonesia (see 2502180056). The trade court also upheld the agency's exclusion of the selling expenses of Zinus Indonesia's parent company Zinus Korea from the normal value calculation (PT. Zinus Global Indonesia v. United States, CIT Consol. # 21-00277).
The Court of International Trade on April 16 held that it doesn't have jurisdiction under Section 1581(c) to hear claims from a group of importers that the Commerce Department failed to find a changed circumstance or open new shipper reviews in an antidumping duty investigation on Mexican tomatoes covering entries during 1995-96. Sustaining the agency's investigation results on remand, Judge Jennifer Choe-Groves also held that the intervenors don't have standing to sue, since their claims aren't related to those of the other parties with standing.
The Court of International Trade on April 18 sustained the International Trade Commission's preliminary negative injury determination on aluminum extrusions from the Dominican Republic. Judge Lisa Wang rejected all three of the petitioners' claims, which challenged the ITC's findings that subject imports were negligible, there was "no likelihood of contrary evidence to arise in the final phase which would warrant a non-negligibility determination," and imports from the Dominican Republic don't have the potential to exceed the negligibility threshold in the "imminent future."
The Court of International Trade partly granted vehicle accessories importer Keystone Automotive Operations’ request for reconsideration of an Oct. 7 decision. CIT Judge Jennifer Choe-Groves said she had conducted a “traditional eo nomine versus principal use analysis” in her decision, but that Keystone had actually argued that the United States Trade Representative had outlined a “new legal standard” for applying the relevant Section 301 tariff exclusion (Keystone Automotive Operations v. United States, CIT # 21-00215).