Importer Mitsubishi Power Americas’ catalyst blocks were filters or purifiers and properly classified under Harmonized Tariff Schedule heading 8421, not “other” catalytic reactors under 3815, the Court of International Trade ruled April 29.
The U.S. offered its most fulsome defense of President Donald Trump's reciprocal tariffs to date, submitting a reply to a group of five importers' motion for a preliminary injunction and summary judgment at the Court of International Trade on April 29. The government argued that the text, context, history and purpose of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act lets the president impose tariffs and that IEEPA doesn't confer an unconstitutional delegation of authority to the president (V.O.S. Selections v. Donald J. Trump, CIT # 25-00066).
Two Illinois producers of children’s educational materials challenged April 22 President Donald Trump’s use of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act to impose tariffs, adding their complaint to a growing pile making similar claims (see 2504250038, 2504140061 and 2504230067). They, like other challengers, are seeking a preliminary injunction, saying that their businesses are already suffering irreparable harm as a result of the tariffs (Learning Resources, Inc. v. Donald J. Trump, D. D.C. # 25-01248).
Cable importer Cyber Power Systems brought two more classification disputes to the Court of International Trade April 28 (see 2504010067 and 2305170023 (Cyber Power Systems (USA) Inc. v. United States, CIT # 21-00199).
An environmental conservation group said April 25 in a motion for judgment that the National Marine Fisheries Service had again failed to reach a proper comparability finding regarding New Zealand’s fisheries threatening the existence of the Maui dolphin -- whose total population as a species has dwindled to under 50 (Maui and Hector's Dolphin Defenders v. National Marine Fisheries Service, CIT # 24-00218).
Former U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, who served in that role in President Donald Trump's first term, told an audience at the Council on Foreign Relations that he thinks "there’s a reasonable chance the [Court of International Trade (CIT)] would enjoin" tariffs levied under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, or IEEPA. Trump used IEEPA to levy 25% tariffs on Canada and Mexico over fentanyl and migration, as well as 20% tariffs on China over fentanyl, and used it to levy 10% tariffs on countries other than those three, and an additional 125% tariffs on Chinese goods.
The Court of International Trade ruled April 29 that importer Mitsubishi Power Americas’ catalyst blocks, which chemically convert nitrous oxide from industrial pollutant emitters into nitrogen and water, were filters, not “other” catalytic reactors. It acknowledged that Mitsubishi had defined a Section 301 exclusion for “other” catalytic reactors based on the products, but said the importer had been on notice that its products might not be covered by the language of the exclusion because the language of the exclusions themselves, not product descriptions contained in the exclusion requests, define what's subject to the exclusions (Mitsubishi Power Americas v. United States, CIT # 21-00573).
The U.S. District Court for the District of Montana on April 28 denied a motion from four members of the Blackfeet Nation that sought to keep the established schedule on its motion for a preliminary injunction against President Donald Trump's tariffs on Canada after the Montana court transferred the matter to the Court of International Trade (Susan Webber v. United States, D. Mont. # 4:25-00026).
International trade attorney Elyssa Kutner has resigned from Sidley Austin, according to a notice Kutner filed at the Court of International Trade. Kutner joined Sidley in 2020 as an associate, moving to counsel in January 2024. At the firm, she covered U.S. customs law and import compliance. Prior to joining Sidley, she worked as an associate at ArentFox and Neville Peterson.
The following lawsuit was filed recently at the Court of International Trade: