Plaintiffs in the massive Section 301 litigation "have every intention" to appeal their case challenging the lists 3 and 4A Section 301 tariffs on China to the Supreme Court, Matt Nicely, lead counsel for the companies, told the Court of International Trade during a Nov. 4 status conference.
Trade lawyers are split over the necessity of filing lawsuits now to secure potential International Emergency Economic Powers Act tariff refunds should the Supreme Court invalidate them, according to interviews with lawyers.
The Court of International Trade erred in ruling that importer Blue Sky The Color of Imagination's planning calendars are diaries under Harmonized Tariff Schedule subheading 4820.10.2010, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit held on Dec. 4. Judges Alan Lourie, William Bryson and Raymond Chen said the trade court violated the principle of stare decisis by skirting the CAFC's prior interpretation of the term "diary."
CBP has released two Customs Bulletins, one for Nov. 5 (Vol. 59, No. 45) and one for Nov. 12 (Vol. 59, No. 46). Neither contains any rulings. However, there are Court of International Trade slip opinions: five in the Nov. 5 bulletin and one in the Nov. 12 bulletin.
The following lawsuits were filed at the Court of International Trade during the week of Nov. 24-30:
Manufacturing trade groups and companies mostly argued in comments to the U.S. Trade Representative that USMCA rules of origin for their sectors shouldn't change as part of the pact's review, and if they do, it should be only after extensive consultation with industry, and with adequate transition times.
The Court of International Trade on Nov. 26 granted the government's motion for rehearing in a customs dispute on the classification of certain radial, web and chordal segments imported by Honeywell and used in airplane brakes, changing the classification of the parts to "fabrics" under Harmonized Tariff Schedule heading 6307. Judge Mark Barnett reversed his previous holding that the goods are "parts of an aircraft" under heading 8803, subjecting the items at issue to a 7% duty under subheading 6307.90.98.
CBP's regulations regarding the notice provided to importers subject to Enforce and Protect Act investigations and when CBP must initiate those investigations violated an importer's due process rights, the Court of International Trade held on Nov. 26.
The Commerce Department is amending the final results of two separate countervailing duty administrative reviews on steel reinforcing bar from Turkey (C-489-819) based on the final decision in a U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit case that consolidated the findings from Court of International Trade cases challenging those final results.
The following lawsuits were filed at the Court of International Trade during the week of Nov. 17-23: