Importer Veregy Central argued that CBP improperly assessed hefty antidumping and countervailing duties on its solar cell imports from Thailand and Vietnam. In a complaint filed with the Court of International Trade on Oct. 17, Veregy said its goods were properly excluded from these duties due to President Joe Biden's duty pause on solar cells and modules from Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia and Malaysia, since its imports were within the scope of the AD/CVD orders on Chinese solar cells and were consumed in the U.S. within 24 months of Biden's proclamation announcing the duty pause (Veregy Central v. United States, CIT # 25-00229).
President Donald Trump told reporters on Oct. 15 that he would like to attend the Nov. 5 oral argument at the Supreme Court regarding whether he can use the International Emergency Economic Powers Act to impose tariffs. After declaring that the tariffs he has imposed are essential for economic and national security matters, Trump said: "I'm going to go to the Supreme Court to watch it. I've not done that, and I've had some pretty big cases."
The U.S. will appeal a recent Court of International Trade decision vacating the Commerce Department's decision not to collect antidumping and countervailing duties on solar cells from Cambodia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam (Auxin Solar v. United States, CIT # 23-00274).
The New Zealand government on Oct. 16 opposed conservation group Maui and Hector's Dolphin Defenders NZ's motion for the Court of International Trade to reconsider its decision not to immediately impose an import ban on seafood and seafood products from set net and trawl fisheries off New Zealand's North Island. Reconsideration motions under CIT Rule 59(e), like the conservation group's, can only be applied to judgments, and the trade court hasn't issued a judgment here, merely a remand, the New Zealand government argued (Maui and Hector's Dolphin Defenders NZ v. National Marine Fisheries Service, CIT # 24-00218).
Three different solar cell and module exporters recently filed their opening briefs at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in a pair of cases on the Commerce Department's findings that the antidumping duty and countervailing duty orders on Chinese solar cells and modules are being circumvented through Thailand and Cambodia (Trina Solar Science & Technology (Thailand) v. United States, Fed. Cir. # 25-1940) (BYD (H.K.) v. United States, Fed. Cir. # 25-1937).
Chinese drone maker SZ DJI Technology said this week that it will appeal a recent decision from the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia denying the company's challenge to its designation as a Chinese military company. DJI will take the case to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit (SZ DJI Technology v. U.S. Department of Defense, D.D.C. # 24-02970).
Tapered roller bearing exporter Shanghai Tainai Bearing and importer C&U Americas filed a reply brief at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit on Oct. 14, arguing, among other things, that the U.S. failed to adequately defend the Commerce Department's selection of Romanian firm Timken Romania as part of the surrogate value calculations. Tainai added that Commerce illegally decided to deduct the cost of Section 301 duties from the company's U.S. price in the 2019-20 review of the antidumping duty order on tapered roller bearings from China (Shanghai Tainai Bearing Co. v. United States, Fed. Cir. # 25-1405).
Exporter Kangdi Electric Vehicle (Hainan) and its affiliated importer Kandi America filed a pair of complaints at the Court of International Trade on Oct. 14 to contest the International Trade Commission's and Commerce Department's affirmative finding of critical circumstances regarding Chinese low speed personal transportation vehicles from China (Kangdi Electric Vehicle (Hainan) v. United States, CIT #'s 25-00201, -00202).
The International Trade Commission doesn't have to identify whether a surge of imports subject to antidumping duties has an adverse impact on the time period after which the final AD order is issued to make a critical circumstances finding, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit held on Oct. 15. Judges Richard Taranto, Alan Lourie and Tiffany Cunningham said the relevant statutory provision, 19 U.S.C. 1673d(b)(4)(A)(i) "does not demand a determination focused on the time after the antidumping duty order issues."
Carrie Owens, former director of enforcement operations at CBP, has joined Kelley Drye as a partner in the international trade practice group, the firm announced. She will serve as co-chair of Kelley Drye's customs practice. Owens joins the private sector after two decades in federal government service, which began in 2005 when she started at the Commerce Department as a senior attorney. She went to CBP in 2010 as a branch chief and supervising attorney before being elevated to director in 2016.