The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit on July 28 sustained the Commerce Department's non-market economy policy in antidumping duty proceedings despite the fact that the agency hadn't codified the policy in its regulations at the time the underlying review was challenged. Judges Todd Hughes, William Bryson and Leonard Stark said the Federal Circuit has a long line of cases upholding the policy and that, even if those cases didn't exist, Commerce didn't need to engage in notice-and-comment rulemaking to implement the policy.
Importer Fanuc Robotics America and the U.S. settled a customs case on the importer's robot mechanical units and robot control units. While the robot mechanical units were classified under Harmonized Tariff Schedule subheading 8479.5.000, dutiable at 2.5%, and the robot control units were classified under subheading 8537.10.90, dutiable at 2.7%, CBP agreed to liquidate the products under subheading 8428.90.00, free of duty; subheading 8515.21.00, free of duty; and 8515.310.00, dutiable at 1.6%. Settlement negotiations in the case proceeded over the past year specifically on two models of robot control units (see 2408260050) (Fanuc Robotics America v. U.S., CIT # 12-00052).
Elio Gonzalez, a former Commerce Department attorney, has joined Alston & Bird as counsel in the Washington D.C. office, Gonzalez announced on LinkedIn. Gonzalez worked at Commerce for the past six years, joining as an attorney in 2019 and rising to assistant chief counsel in September 2024 before departing from the agency. Prior to joining Commerce, Gonzalez served as an attorney at CBP in Long Beach, California, for nearly five years.
Judge David Ezra of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas was assigned to the latest case challenging President Donald Trump's tariffs imposed under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, in a text-only order. Ezra was appointed to be a judge on the U.S. District Court for the District of Hawaii in 1988 by President Ronald Reagan, though he was designated by Chief Justice John Roberts to serve on the Texas court in 2013 to help manage the court's caseload (FIREDISC, Inc. v. Donald J. Trump, W.D. Tex. # 25-01134).
The Commerce Department fully supported its finding that importer Deacero's pre-stressed concrete steel wire (PC) strand circumvented the antidumping duty order on PC strand from Mexico, the U.S. argued in a July 23 reply brief at the Court of International Trade. The government said Commerce fully supported its comparison of Deacero's U.S. and Mexican production facilities, finding that Deacero's PC strand production process is "minor or insignificant," and determination that Deacero's sourcing of inputs from its Mexican affiliates supported a circumvention finding (Deacero v. United States, CIT # 24-00212).
The U.S. government's "newfound" theory of jurisdiction in two importers' case against the legality of tariffs imposed under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act is "both convoluted and wrong," the importers, Learning Resources and Hand2Mind, argued in a reply brief at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit (Learning Resources v. Donald J. Trump, D.C. Cir. # 25-5202).
Four related exporters, led by Assan Aluminyum Sanayi ve Ticaret, filed a complaint at the Court of International Trade on July 23, arguing that the Commerce Department illegally decided to limit the full duty drawback adjustment to which Assan is entitled by statute in the 2022-23 administrative review of the antidumping duty order on aluminum foil from Turkey. The result of the review was a 2.34% AD rate for Assan (Assan Aluminyum Sanayi ve Ticaret A.S. v. United States, CIT # 25-00137).
Wisconsin resident Gary Barnes' motion to have the Court of International Trade set aside its decision to dismiss his case against the legality of tariffs imposed by President Donald Trump is an "unwarranted" motion for reconsideration, the U.S. said. Even if the motion is an amended complaint, as Judge Jennifer Choe-Groves said in ordering the government to respond, it fails to allege a "particularized, actual or imminent injury and should be dismissed," the U.S. said (Barnes v. United States, CIT # 25-00043).
The International Trade Commission failed to include processors of 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D) in the U.S. industry in an injury proceeding on imports of the product from China and India, importer Nufarm Americas argued in a July 18 complaint at the Court of International Trade. Nufarm added that the ITC largely ignored the fact that petitioner Corteva Agriscience "withdrew from the U.S. merchant market for 2,4-D acid and esters" to focus on making its patented downstream non-subject 2,4-D end use products" (Nufarm Americas v. United States, CIT # 25-00133).
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit on July 22 dismissed a lawsuit from eight Malian citizens against seven U.S. cocoa importers, which was filed under the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act (TVPRA), for lack of standing. Judges Sri Srinivasan, Patricia Millett and Justin Walker held that the Malian citizens, who attempted to certify a class, failed to clearly allege facts showing the "causal connection between" the importers' "alleged supply chain venture" and the laborers' forced child labor (Issouf Coubaly v. Cargill, D.C. Cir. # 22-7104).