If the Supreme Court eliminates the president's ability to impose tariffs under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, it may not mean the return of the de minimis exemption, which President Donald Trump also ended via IEEPA, trade lawyers told us.
CBP has released its Jan. 14 Customs Bulletin (Vol. 60, No. 2). It contains no ruling notices nor Court of International Trade slip opinions.
A 1985 Ferrari 288 GTO is properly classified under duty-free Harmonized Tariff Schedule subheading 9705.10.0090 as a "collectors' piece of historical interest," rather than as a motor vehicle of subheading 8703.23.0190, dutiable at 2.5%, importer Ferrari 288 GTO LLC argued in a Jan. 14 complaint at the Court of International Trade (Ferrari 288 GTO LLC v. United States, CIT # 26-00671).
Despite a clamor from the trade community for guidance on how to calculate metal content value for Section 232 duty purposes, CBP seems hesitant to issue a customs ruling on the subject, according to trade attorney Mollie Sitkowski. The agency already has punted on the issue several times this fall, claiming that Section 232 tariffs are a Department of Commerce issue, she said.
The Court of International Trade on Jan. 14 confirmed that the government's stipulation regarding the availability of refunds from tariffs imposed under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act "applies to all current and future similarly situated plaintiffs."
The following lawsuits were filed at the Court of International Trade during the week of Jan. 5-11:
The U.S. argued on Jan. 12 that the "undisputed facts" show that importer Lanxess' polymerization accelerator -- a substance used to speed up the chemical process of plastic manufacturing -- can't accelerate a chemical reaction "in its condition as imported," thus removing it from Harmonized Tariff Schedule heading 3915 as a "reaction accelerator" (Lanxess Corporation v. United States, CIT # 23-00073).
The Commerce Department is amending final results of the countervailing duty administrative review on phosphate fertilizers from Morocco (C-714-001) originally published Nov. 7, 2023, to align with the final decision in a court case that challenged a rate in those results.
The U.S. opened a customs penalty suit on Jan. 8 against importers Skyline International and Skyline Brands, along with their owner Zainulabedin Subhani, alleging that the three defendants undervalued their entries of household merchandise. The government is seeking a penalty totaling over $3.4 million for the defendants' alleged fraud along with a judgment of over $447,000, which represents the duties avoided by the defendants (United States v. Skyline International, CIT # 26-00295).
Despite continued aggressive rhetoric around trade policy, tariff levels heading into 2026 are likely to stabilize as the Trump administration pivots to affordability issues, according to Flexport executives speaking during a Jan. 8 webinar on tariff trends.