The Court of International Trade in a Dec. 14 opinion granted the government's request for a voluntary remand in a duty evasion case on hardwood plywood from China in light of two recent judicial opinions. One decision saw the Commerce Department reverse course on whether exporter Vietnam Finewood Co.'s goods are subject to the antidumping and countervailing duty orders, while the other said it was illegal for CBP not to give parties to Enforce and Protect Act actions access to business confidential information.
India appealed an April World Trade Organization panel report that said its duties on information and communications technology goods destined to the EU violated India's tariff commitments, the WTO announced Dec. 14 (see 2304170018). The EU, Japan and Taiwan each have brought cases to the WTO to dispute the Indian tariffs, and India filed a similar appeal of Japan's case against the tariffs in May (see 2305250056). The WTO can't address the appeals because it doesn't have a functioning appellate body (see 2311200078).
Gambia and the U.K. formally accepted the agreement on fisheries subsidies on Dec. 13, the World Trade Organization announced. Fifty-five members have now accepted the deal, which is half the two-thirds majority needed for ratification. As a coastal nation, "Gambia recognizes the critical role of sustainable fisheries for our national economy and the well-being of future generations," Trade Minister Baboucarr Ousmaila Joof said. U.K. official Andrew Mitchell called the deal a "landmark agreement."
The following lawsuits were recently filed at the Court of International Trade:
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit issued its mandate in a case on the countervailing duty investigation on carbon and alloy steel cut-to-length plate from South Korea. In its opinion, the appellate court upheld the Commerce Department's finding that the Korean government didn't provide a countervailable benefit through its provision of electricity to respondents (see 2310230013). Commerce sufficiently carried out a less-than-adequate-remuneration analysis after the court rejected its original preferential rate analysis in 2019 (POSCO v. U.S., Fed. Cir. # 22-1525).
A September Court of International Trade decision is instructive in how to consider the Commerce Department's methodology for assessing de facto specificity regarding Quebec's On-The-Job-Training tax credit in a countervailing duty proceeding, exporter Marmen Energy Co. told the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (Government of Quebec v. U.S., Fed. Cir. # 22-1807).
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit on Dec. 13 denied requests from exporters Guizhou Tyre and Aeolus Tyre to waive the requirement that they file a joint brief in an antidumping duty case (Guizhou Tyre Co. v. United States, Fed. Cir. # 23-2163).
The president's authority to modify Section 232 tariffs doesn't allow the president to "transform" tariffs years after setting the duties "by newly restricting wholly distinct categories of derivative goods without any study and without any plausible connection to U.S. national security," exporter Oman Fasteners told the U.S. Supreme Court (Oman Fasteners v. U.S., Sup. Ct. # 23-432).
Furniture company Homestar North America will pay $798,334 to settle charges that it violated the False Claims Act by underreporting the value of its Chinese imports to avoid customs duties, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Texas announced. Of the total penalty, $151,683 will go to the whistleblower in the action: Larry Edwards, a logistics and warehouse manager who worked for Homestar for a short stint in 2020.
The Sierra Club on Dec. 12 moved to voluntarily dismiss its lawsuit challenging the Department of Energy's approval of liquefied natural gas export applications for increased volumes submitted by Magnolia LNG and Golden Pass LNG Terminal. Sierra Club's decision came after DOE released a notice saying the authorizations for the two terminals have expired and are no longer in effect. Magnolia first moved to withdraw the lawsuit earlier this month (see 2312060049). (Sierra Club v. U.S. Department of Energy, D.C. Cir. # 22-1217).