Plaintiffs in the massive Section 301 litigation officially filed on May 12 their notice of appeal of the Court of International Trade's decision upholding President Donald Trump's tariff action on China. The case was filed in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. CIT had agreed that the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative complied with Administrative Procedure Act requirements when it set lists 3 and 4A Section 301 tariffs (see 2303170063) (In Re Section 301 Cases, CIT # 21-00052).
The Court of International Trade canceled an oral argument that had been set for June 6 in an antidumping duty case that revolves around the Commerce Department's decision not to treat Indonesia as being at the same level of economic development as Vietnam during the surrogate country selection process in an AD administrative review on frozen fish fillets from Vietnam. The Catfish Farmers of America also argued against a byproduct offset granted for respondent NTSF Seafoods Joint Stock Co. Judge M. Miller Baker instead ordered the parties to file supplemental briefs addressing the evidence cited in the briefing related to the byproduct offset issue. Baker said "the meaning and significance of that evidence is unclear to the court." The briefs may not exceed 2,500 words and must be filed within 21 days (Catfish Farmers of America v. U.S., CIT # 20-00105).
No lawsuits were recently filed at the Court of International Trade.
The following lawsuit was recently filed at the Court of International Trade:
Importer Farrier Product Distribution settled its case originally challenging Section 232 steel and aluminum duties on "derivative" products, securing refunds of the duties, the company told the Court of International Trade in a motion to voluntarily dismiss its case. Farrier said the parties sought to "resolve the legal controversy that gave rise to this matter," adding that the U.S. and the importer have been "successful in that effort" (Farrier Product Distribution v. United States, CIT # 20-00098).
The American Cotton Shippers Association asked the Federal Maritime Commission to uphold a recent summary decision that ordered carriers to stop adopting, maintaining and enforcing regulations or practices that "limit the ability of a motor carrier to select the chassis provider." In an amicus brief filed to the FMC May 8, ACSA said it supports the decision because agreements between ocean carriers and non-party Intermodal Equipment Providers (IEPs) place limits on the “choice in chassis provisioning for U.S. cotton exporters, thereby causing delays in the movement of cotton, creating avoidably inefficiencies, imposing needless costs, and ultimately undermining the competitiveness of U.S. cotton shipments in the global marketplace."
The Commerce Department filed an unopposed voluntary remand motion at the Court of International Trade in an antidumping duty case so the agency can consider information submitted by respondent Officine Tecnosider on Commerce's use of the quarterly cost methodology. DOJ said it couldn't find Commerce's analysis of the quarterly average prices of steel slab when prepping its reply brief to Officine Tecnosider, leading to the remand request. The trade court set a status conference for May 15 to discuss the motion (Officine Tecnosider v. United States, CIT # 23-00001).
A suit at the Court of International Trade challenging CBP's assessment of antidumping and countervailing duties on imported sinks and kits should be dismissed because the plaintiff failed to pay duties before filing the case, DOJ said in a heavily redacted May 5 motion. DOJ asked the court to dismiss the case for lack of subject matter jurisdiction and to dismiss one count of the complaint for failure to state a claim for which relief can be granted (RH Peterson Co. v. U.S., CIT # 20-00099).
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit should let appellants Tau-Ken Temir and Kazakhstan's Ministry of Trade and Integration make corrections to their opening brief, they said May 8. The parties said they would have filed an additional extension motion had their counsel known of a previously undisclosed visit by U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken to Kazakhstan on the day the brief was due (Tau-Ken Temir v. United States, Fed. Cir. # 22-2204).
The American Cotton Shippers Association asked the Federal Maritime Commission to uphold a recent summary decision that ordered carriers to stop adopting, maintaining and enforcing regulations or practices that "limit the ability of a motor carrier to select the chassis provider." In an amicus brief filed to the FMC May 8, ACSA said it supports the decision because agreements between ocean carriers and non-party Intermodal Equipment Providers (IEPs) place limits on the “choice in chassis provisioning for U.S. cotton exporters, thereby causing delays in the movement of cotton, creating avoidably inefficiencies, imposing needless costs, and ultimately undermining the competitiveness of U.S. cotton shipments in the global marketplace."