Importer Integlobal Forest failed to convincingly argue that the Enforce and Protect Act isn't a strict liability statute, petitioner Coalition for Fair Trade in Hardwood Plywood argued. The coalition said both the "plain language of the statute and the overall statutory context" show that Congress didn't mean to require culpability of an importer as a "prerequisite" to an affirmative evasion finding (American Pacific Plywood v. United States, CIT Consol. # 20-03914).
Jacob Kopnick
Jacob Kopnick, Associate Editor, is a reporter for Trade Law Daily and its sister publications Export Compliance Daily and International Trade Today. He joined the Warren Communications News team in early 2021 covering a wide range of topics including trade-related court cases and export issues in Europe and Asia. Jacob's background is in trade policy, having spent time with both CSIS and USTR researching international trade and its complexities. Jacob is a graduate of the University of Michigan with a B.A. in Public Policy.
The Commerce Department unlawfully expanded the scope of the antidumping duty order on prestressed concrete steel wire strand from Mexico when it found that Mexican exporter Deacero circumvented the order, the company argued in a Dec. 27 complaint at the Court of International Trade. Deacero said Commerce erred in failing to address the company's claims that the agency and the International Trade Commission originally meant to exclude high-carbon steel wire from the scope of the order (Deacero v. U.S., CIT # 24-00212).
The following lawsuits were recently filed at the Court of International Trade:
Importer Ildico will appeal a Court of International Trade decision finding for the government in a customs classification spat on the company's watches with case backs set with watch glass made of nonprecious materials (see 2411010048). The trade court said Ildico's Richard Mille watches aren't considered to have cases made "wholly" of precious metal and thus fit under Harmonized Tariff Schedule heading 9102, a basket provision covering watches with composite cases. Ildico claimed its watches should have been classified under heading 9101 (Ildico Inc. v. U.S., CIT Consol. # 18-00136).
The U.S. agreed to liquidate plastic lids for vacuum-sealed drinkware imported by Yeti Coolers without Section 301 duties, the parties said in a stipulated judgment at the Court of International Trade on Dec. 26. The goods were imported under Harmonized Tariff Schedule subheading 3923.50.0000, dutiable at 5.3%, and secondary subheading 9903.88.03, which was subject to either a 10% or 25% Section 301 duty. After Yeti brought suit to challenge this classification, the government agreed to classify the goods under subheading 9617.00.6000, which covers parts of vacuum flasks and is dutiable at 7.2% but without Section 301 duties (Yeti Coolers v. U.S., CIT # 21-00526).
Importer Trimil voluntarily dismissed 17 customs cases at the Court of International Trade on Dec. 27. The company brought the cases to challenge CBP's decision to appraise its apparel imports at the prices paid with royalties included (see 2112150046). Counsel for the importer said the cases were settled with CBP (Trimil v. U.S., CIT #s 05-00443, 05-00677, 06-00145, 06-00295, 07-00004, 07-00235, 07-00416, 08-00110, 08-00309, 09-00117, 09-00328, 09-00539, 10-00202, 10-00378, 11-00155, 11-00418, 12-00383).
Exporters led by Bio-Lab argued that the statute concerning surrogate value selection requires the Commerce Department to balance the importance of both economic and merchandise comparability rather than elevating one factor over the other. Filing a reply brief earlier this month at the Court of International Trade, Bio-Lab said that the court should find this to be the "best" reading of the statute, 19 U.S.C. 1677b(c), under the standard of review for ambiguous statutes established by the Supreme Court in Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo (Bio-Lab v. U.S., CIT Consol. # 24-00024).
Chinese company Advanced Micro-Fabrication Equipment (AMEC) and the U.S. are conferring on how to end the company's suit against its designation as a "Chinese military company" after the Pentagon removed the firm's designation earlier this month (Advanced Micro-Fabrication Equipment Inc. China v. United States, D.D.C. # 24-02357).
The World Trade Organization released an updated draft of its dispute settlement reform text, outlining a host of reform ideas regarding the appeal mechanism's scope of review, standard of review, form, incentives to appeal, expectations from members and accessibility.
International trade attorney Bryan Cenko at Mowry & Grimson was elevated to partner, the firm announced. Cenko joined the firm in 2017 as an associate, becoming counsel in 2022. Before joining Mowry & Grimson, Cenko worked as a judicial law clerk for Judge Irma Raker at the Maryland Court of Appeals.