Court of International Trade Judge Timothy Stanceu granted a motion from importer Nutricia North America that asked to reopen discovery to replace the company's expert witness in an ongoing case regarding classification of infant formulas (Nutricia North America v. United States, CIT #16-00008). Nutricia asked for the record to be reopened after it discovered that its witness, Dr. Joel Lavine, was convicted of sexually abusing an adult former patient. With the order from Judge Timothy Stanceu, Nutricia will replace Lavine with Dr. Jonah Essers.
With negotiations expected to begin in earnest soon on the House and Senate's trade packages, staffers in both chambers of Congress say there could be support for antidumping and countervailing duty reform and language around Section 301 tariff exclusions, but the likelihood of a dramatic de minimis change seems somewhat remote.
The defendant-intervenors in an antidumping duty case, Insteel Wire Products Co., Sumiden Wire Products Corp. and Wire Mesh Corp., signed off on the Commerce Department's remand results at the Court of International Trade applying partial adverse facts available. The remand results accepted certain of Turkish exporter Celik Halat's questionnaire responses that it originally denied due to being filed 21 minutes late. The result dropped Commerce's use of total AFA to partial AFA (Celik Halat ve Tel Sanayi v. United States, CIT #21-00045).
A Mexican union and a U.S. nonprofit, Rethink Trade, jointly filed a rapid response complaint Monday with the U.S. Labor Department against Panasonic Automotive's plant in Reynosa, Mexico, alleging workers there are being denied the right of free association and collective bargaining. The complaint was filed under the U.S.-Mexico-Canada agreement on free trade. The plant manufactures automotive audio systems and displays for export to the U.S. and other markets. The union complainant, Sindicato Nacional Independiente de Trabajadores de Industrias y de Servicios "Movimiento 20/32" (SNITIS), says more than 600 workers at the plant asked the organization to be their new union, but Panasonic is collaborating with an alternative union, Confederacion de Trabajadores de Mexico (CTM). According to the complaint, the plant has about 2,000 workers. SNITIS and Rethink Trade say Panasonic fired more than 60 workers who support SNITIS, and alleged Panasonic won't sign a contract with the union that receives the majority of the votes in elections scheduled for Thursday and Friday. Panasonic reached a contract with CTM, and the company started withholding union dues for that union March 25, the complaint says. The petition asks that dues deductions end, and that fired workers get reinstated with full back pay and interest. It also says the contract with the CTM union must be terminated, and the Mexican government should order the company to negotiate in good faith with whichever union wins the elections. The last time the U.S. was asked to start a rapid response case against a Mexican factory, it took a month for the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative and the Labor Department to announce they would begin consultations with the Mexican government over the issue. USTR didn't comment, nor did Panasonic Automotive. If the U.S. government brings a case, the Mexican government would have 10 days to declare if it will look into whether the complaint has merit.
The following lawsuits were recently filed at the Court of International Trade:
The government should not be allowed a second extension in a classification case to respond to an expert witness report, HyAxiom said in a motion filed April 20 with the Court of International Trade. DOJ has "not yet decided whether they intend to respond to HyAxiom’s Expert Report, let alone retained a rebuttal expert," which, the motion argues, is "effectively putting on pause HyAxiom’s ability to complete its discovery" and, if granted, would prejudice HyAxiom, formerly known as Doosan Fuel Cell America, by forcing it to rearrange its litigation strategy, the importer said. The case stems from a February 2021 complaint by Doosan Fuel Cell America that challenged the reclassification of a steam methane reformer and subsequent denial of protest by CBP. CBP classified the reformer under HTS subheading 8503.00.9550 (3%). Doosan claims the proper subheading is 8405.10.0000 (free).
Antidumping duty petitioner Wheatland Tube Co. failed to rebut plaintiff Borusan Mannesmann's motion that no substantial question remains regarding Wheatland's appeal of an antidumping duty case related to a particular market adjustment, Borusan said in an April 20 reply brief at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. Since the Federal Circuit in a separate case found that particular market situation adjustments cannot be made to the sales-below-cost test, the issue is "completed," so the court should affirm Borusan's motion for summary affirmance, the brief said (Borusan Mannesmann Boru Sanayi ve Ticaret v. United States, Fed. Cir. #21-2097).
The following lawsuits were recently filed at the Court of International Trade:
The following lawsuits were filed at the Court of International Trade during the week of April 11-17:
Mixes of frozen fruits should be classified as food preparations of heading 2106, rather than in the heading in Chapter 8 for fruit deemed to impart the mixture's essential character, an importer said in a motion for summary judgment filed with the Court of International Trade April 18 (Nature's Touch Frozen Foods (West) Inc. v. United States, CIT #20-00131).