The Court of International Trade on Oct. 21 granted the government's motion for default judgment against importer E-Dong, U.S.A. for negligently failing to pay a federal excise tax on 20 entries of its "Korean distilled beverage soju." Judge Timothy Reif ordered E-Dong to pay $234,748.30 in unpaid federal excise tax along with pre- and post-judgment interest, which shall be calculated according to the relevant statutes.
CBP recently issued two rulings on duty-free classification under the Harmonized Tariff Schedule heading 9817, including one that unsuccessfully lobbied for a reconsideration of a previous ruling.
The U.S. will appeal a recent Court of International Trade decision vacating the Commerce Department's decision not to collect antidumping and countervailing duties on solar cells from Cambodia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam (Auxin Solar v. United States, CIT # 23-00274).
The following lawsuits were filed at the Court of International Trade during the week of Oct. 6-12:
Two trade associations -- the National Fisheries Institute and the Restaurant Law Center -- and 10 seafood importers challenged the National Marine Fisheries Service's comparability findings of 240 fisheries across 46 nations (see 2509020014), which will lead to an import ban on all seafood products from these fisheries effective Jan. 1, 2026, at the Court of International Trade (National Fisheries Institute v. United States, CIT # 25-00223).
The Court of International Trade upheld CBP's determination, made on remand, that importer Scioto Valley Woodworking, Inc., evaded the antidumping duty and countervailing duty orders on wooden cabinets and vanities from China. In a decision made public Oct. 9, Judge Lisa Wang rejected Scioto's claim that CBP can only make an affirmative evasion finding if it finds the importer to actually have imported covered merchandise through evasion, and the judge found the evasion determination to be supported by substantial evidence.
Joseph Barloon was confirmed to be the ambassador to the World Trade Organization in a 51-47 Senate vote Oct. 7. He was one of 108 nominees approved in that single vote. Barloon was first nominated in February. Barloon served as general counsel to the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative in 2019 and 2020. He had previously been nominated for the Court of International Trade, but since the nomination was 17 days before Trump left office, the nomination did not proceed.
The following lawsuits were filed at the Court of International Trade during the week of Sept. 29 - Oct. 5:
CBP's analysis of substantial transformation is moving away from its essential character test toward a more holistic review of the final stage of assembly, according to Matthew Bock, managing partner at Bock Trade Law.
Judges at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit pressed counsel for importer Blue Sky the Color of Imagination and the government during oral argument on Oct. 7 in the importer's customs classification suit on its notebooks with calendars. During the argument, Judges Alan Lourie, Raymond Chen and William Bryson grappled with whether the court is bound by its 2010 ruling in Mead v. U.S. and whether the goods are properly classified as calendars or diaries (Blue Sky The Color of Imagination v. U.S., Fed. Cir. # 24-1710).