Grunfeld Desiderio counseled clients in the Section 301 litigation to consider a “sliding scale” of options on filing timely complaints within the two-year statute of limitations window that qualifies importers to recover duties paid if the suits are successful, partner Ned Marshak said in an Oct. 19 interview. The firm filed more than 800 of the nearly 3,600 complaints inundating the Court of International Trade. Its Sept. 16 complaint on behalf of YC Rubber was the first to follow Akin Gump's suit for lead plaintiff HMTX Industries.
International Trade Today is providing readers with the top stories from Oct. 13-16 in case they were missed. All articles can be found by searching on the titles or by clicking on the hyperlinked reference number.
Chief Judge Timothy Stanceu of the U.S. Court of International Trade should “automatically stay” all but the lead HMTX Industries-Jasco Products complaint in the Section 301 litigation and designate HMTX-Jasco as the “test case,” the Department of Justice said in an Oct. 19 motion to adopt case management procedures. All the nearly 3,600 complaints inundating the CIT seek to vacate the lists 3 and 4A tariff rulemakings and get the duties refunded. The roster of complaints attached to DOJ’s motion takes up 187 pages.
The International Trade Commission on Oct. 14 issued Revision 23 to the 2020 Harmonized Tariff Schedule. The latest edition implements extensions to exclusions from Section 301 tariffs on products from China under new subheadings 9903.88.60 and 9903.88.61 (see 2010010038). A few technical corrections are also made to General Note 11 on USMCA.
CBP issued the following releases on commercial trade and related matters:
There is some industry concern that a proposal to end the de minimis exemption to Section 301 goods isn't considered “economically significant,” an executive following the issue said. CBP submitted to the Office of Management and Budget a proposed rule titled “Excepting Merchandise Subject to Section 301 Duties from the Customs De Minimis Exemption,” according to OMB’s Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs website (see 2009040026).
France recently said it would not wait for the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development to reach a compromise on digital services taxes, and said that it would start collecting taxes on internet giants in December. The National Foreign Trade Council said that's extremely troubling. “Moving ahead with a unilateral DST threatens to sap whatever political momentum exists to find multilateral consensus at the OECD, and to worsen bilateral economic relations with the United States,” said NFTC Vice President for Global Trade Issues Jake Colvin. “This move by France will only give cover to other countries to move ahead with implementing and collecting other discriminatory services taxes, which would fray the global international tax framework.” The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative has said it would levy Section 301 tariffs on French imports if the DST is implemented, including on champagne (see 2007130043).
The Section 301 tariff rulemakings typified the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative's “unreasoned decision making” that’s “impermissible” under the Administrative Procedure Act, the Consumer Technology Association argued in September 2018 comments on List 3 of the tariffs (see 1809070025) that draw strong parallels to the HMTX-Jasco litigation challenging lists 3 and 4A tariffs. CTA used Akin Gump to help draft the comments two years ago. It was where CTA first floated the idea of challenging the tariffs in court. The complaint Akin Gump drafted for CTA (see 2009220029) that the association never followed through on is seen as a template for the HMTX-Jasco litigation now ongoing.
The Washington counsel for the U.S. Fashion Industry Association told members that it's not time yet to think about moving production out of Vietnam, in light of the recently announced Section 301 investigation into currency manipulation in that country (see 2010050036).
The following lawsuits were filed at the Court of International Trade during the week of Oct. 5-11: