Reaching the end of its work with CBP on legislative drafts under the 21st Century Customs Framework, the Commercial Customs Operations Advisory Committee remains at loggerheads with CBP on five remaining enforcement proposals from the agency, including one on penalties that the COAC completely rejected, according to a white paper released June 5.

The Court of International Trade dismissed a customs suit filed by Ivaco Rolling Miss 2004 and Sivaco Wire Group 2004 for lack of prosecution. The case concerned the companies' claims that its steel articles were improperly denied Section 232 steel and aluminum tariff exclusions. The trade court said the case, which was placed on the customs case management calendar, was not removed at the expiration of the "applicable period of time of removal" (Ivaco Rolling Mills 2004 v. U.S., CIT # 21-00234).

The Court of International Trade granted exporter Tokyo Steel Manufacturing Co.'s motion to sever its case from a suit filed by Nippon Steel challenging the 2019-20 administrative review of the antidumping duty order on hot-rolled steel from Japan, and dismiss its case. Judge Stephen Vaden also granted Tokyo Steel's request to dissolve the injunction suspending liquidation of the company's hot-rolled steel products. The exporter initially filed the case to contest the Commerce Department's deduction of Section 232 steel and aluminum duties from respondent Nippon Steel's U.S. price (Tokyo Steel Manufacturing Co. v. United States, CIT # 22-00180).

Mediation in a customs penalty case did not result in a settlement, the Court of International said in a May 30 report. Judge Leo Gordon sat as the mediator and declared that the process wrapped up on May 26 without a result. The U.S. filed the suit alleging that Crown Cork & Seal USA misclassified its metal can lid imports, valued at around $51 million, underpaying around $1.3 million in duties between 2004 and 2009. The trade court previously denied Crown Cork's bid to dismiss fraud and gross negligence claims in the case (see 2302280053) (U.S. v. Crown Cork & Seal USA, CIT # 21-00361).

The Court of International Trade overlooked the principle that the Commerce Department has the burden to support its use of the expected method in antidumping cases, importer PrimeSource Building Products argued in a reply brief at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. The non-selected respondent filed the suit to challenge Commerce's decision to weight average two adverse facts available rates when calculating the non-selected respondents' rate in an administrative review on steel nails from Taiwan (PrimeSource Building Products v. United States, Fed. Cir. # 22-2128).

The following lawsuits were filed at the Court of International Trade during the weeks of May 15-21 and 22-28:

The following lawsuit was recently filed at the Court of International Trade:

Argentina launched a World Trade Organization dispute over U.S. antidumping measures on Argentinian oil country tubular goods.

Argentina launched a World Trade Organization dispute over U.S. antidumping measures on Argentinian oil country tubular goods.

The Commerce Department illegally relied on raw honey acquisition costs as a proxy to calculate costs of production in the antidumping duty investigation into raw honey from India, despite those respondents withholding information and impeding the investigation, the American Honey Producers Association and the Sioux Honey Association argued in a May 23 brief at the Court of International Trade (American Honey Producers Association v. U.S., CIT # 22-00195).