On September 23, 2025, the U.S. Court of International Trade (CIT) issued an opinion vacating and remanding U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s forced labor Finding against Kingtom Aluminio S.R.L., a Dominican Republic-based aluminum extruder. The court found that CBP’s determination, which prohibited the entry of Kingtom’s aluminum extrusions under Section 307 of the Tariff Act of 1930, was arbitrary and capricious because it lacked a satisfactory explanation and did not provide a rational connection between the facts found and the agency’s decision. The public administrative record and Federal Register notice contained only conclusory statements and failed to cite specific evidence or describe the circumstances of the investigation, distinguishing this case from prior decisions where agencies provided at least a minimal factual basis.

Judge Timothy M. Reif emphasized that administrative agencies must articulate clear and reasoned grounds for enforcement actions, as required by the Administrative Procedure Act. In this case, the court determined that neither the heavily redacted administrative record nor CBP’s published finding met the legal standard for adequate explanation. As a result, the court vacated the forced labor finding against Kingtom and remanded the matter to CBP for further explanation or reconsideration. CBP is required to file a remand redetermination within 90 days, after which the parties will have an opportunity to comment.

Notably, this was the first time CBP issued a direct finding without escalating the enforcement action from a Withhold Release Order (WRO). The difference between a WRO and a Finding is that for a Finding, there is conclusive evidence that the goods are made with forced labor. In this action, the Finding was issued without giving the company an opportunity to respond or provide evidence to the contrary.

The lack of an explanation here and the CIT’s requirement that reasoning be provided moving forward means that CBP will be required to explain Findings in the future, which will offer importers an even clearer blueprint of the risk signals and indicators to which CBP pays attention when investigating and assessing a party.

Crowell continues to monitor developments in the Forced Labor space and their impact on industry.

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Photo of John Brew John Brew

John Brew is the former chair of Crowell & Moring’s International Trade Group and a partner in the firm’s Washington, D.C. office.

John has extensive experience in import and export trade regulation, collaborating with corporations, trade associations, foreign governments, and nongovernmental organizations on…

John Brew is the former chair of Crowell & Moring’s International Trade Group and a partner in the firm’s Washington, D.C. office.

John has extensive experience in import and export trade regulation, collaborating with corporations, trade associations, foreign governments, and nongovernmental organizations on customs administration, enforcement, compliance litigation, legislation, and policy matters. He represents clients in proceedings at the administrative and judicial levels as well as before Congress and the international bureaucracies that handle customs and trade matters. John advises clients on all substantive import regulatory issues handled by U.S. Customs and Border Protection and Immigration and Customs Enforcement, such as classification, valuation, origin, marking, tariff preference programs, other agency regulations, admissibility, customs brokerage, Section 321, drawback, foreign trade zones, duty recovery programs, import restrictions, quotas, audits, prior disclosures, penalties, investigations, Customs Trade Partnership Against Terrorism and trade compliance programs, importations under bond, the Jones Act, and vessel repairs.

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Photo of Simeon Yerokun Simeon Yerokun

imeon Yerokun is a counsel in Crowell & Moring’s International Trade group and based in the firm’s Washington, D.C. office. He advises clients on all areas of import regulatory compliance, trade remedies, and international trade litigation.

Simeon has extensive experience counseling companies in

…

imeon Yerokun is a counsel in Crowell & Moring’s International Trade group and based in the firm’s Washington, D.C. office. He advises clients on all areas of import regulatory compliance, trade remedies, and international trade litigation.

Simeon has extensive experience counseling companies in the areas of business and human rights law, including compliance with global anti-forced labor and human rights requirements. He regularly represents companies before U.S. government agencies on forced labor-related matters, including securing the release of goods detained and seized by U.S. Customs and Border Protection. He also offers deep experience assisting companies in mapping their supply chains, including linking imported products back to their raw materials using enterprise software and other inventory management audit tools. Simeon is highly accomplished in forced labor supply chain mapping and risk assessments, as well as verifying due diligence efforts with on-the-ground visits to client facilities, incorporating third-party intelligence and audit resources.

Simeon’s experience also covers a broad spectrum of trade and customs issues, including those related to import regulatory compliance matters such as valuation, classification, duty drawback, marking and labeling, entry procedures, and penalties; free trade agreements; antidumping and countervailing duty issues; trade litigation; intellectual property issues such as trademark and copyright infringement; the enforcement of exclusion orders issued by the International Trade Commission (ITC); steel and aluminum tariffs under the Section 232 National Security Investigation; and the additional tariffs on products from China under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974.

Additionally, Simeon handles antidumping (AD) and countervailing duty (CVD) investigations before the U.S. Department of Commerce’s International Trade Administration (ITA) and the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) under the Tariff Act of 1930, and litigation involving the U.S. Court of International Trade (CIT).

Prior to joining Crowell, Simeon was a trade and finance attorney in the Office of Chief Counsel—U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), and before that, he served as counsel to Commissioner Irving A. Williamson at the U.S. International Trade Commission.

Simeon is a proud graduate of Howard University School of Law, where he served as technical editor of the school’s Human Rights and Globalization Law Review.

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Photo of Sibilla Grenon Sibilla Grenon

Sibilla Grenon is an associate in Crowell & Moring’s International Trade Group.

Before joining Crowell, Sibilla clerked for the Honorable Timothy M. Reif of the Court of International Trade, where she assisted Judge Reif in cases related to antidumping and countervailing duties, customs,

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Sibilla Grenon is an associate in Crowell & Moring’s International Trade Group.

Before joining Crowell, Sibilla clerked for the Honorable Timothy M. Reif of the Court of International Trade, where she assisted Judge Reif in cases related to antidumping and countervailing duties, customs, and matters arising from the Court’s residual jurisdiction. Sibilla also assisted Judge Reif in the adjudication of cases before the Southern District of New York, notably in areas of trade secret and copyright law. Prior to her clerkship, Sibilla was an associate in the litigation group of a law firm where she represented clients on compliance issues concerning privacy and data security for large corporations in accordance with state, federal, and international privacy regulations (GDPR, CCPA, CPRA, TCPA, BIPA, and GLBA) and employment matters.

Sibilla is a Rising Leader with the Aspen Strategy Group, a program that cultivates the next generation of rising leaders in national security and foreign policy.

As a law student, Sibilla served as the articles editor for the Georgetown Journal of International Law, a fellow at the Institute of International Economic Law, and was a member of Georgetown’s francophone moot court team of the Concours d’Arbitrage International de Paris.

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Photo of Pierfilippo M. Natta Pierfilippo M. Natta

Pierfilippo M. Natta (“Pier”), is an associate in Crowell’s International Trade Law practice. He focuses on assisting clients with complex international trade matters, ranging from implementing sanctions and export controls programs to forced labor investigations and general trade disputes. Pier works on developing…

Pierfilippo M. Natta (“Pier”), is an associate in Crowell’s International Trade Law practice. He focuses on assisting clients with complex international trade matters, ranging from implementing sanctions and export controls programs to forced labor investigations and general trade disputes. Pier works on developing Business and Human Rights legal guidance for clients and his practice covers a global reach including US, EU and Asia. His investigatory work has primarily focused on South-East Asia.

Pier applies his international trade knowledge to help clients identify manage and remediate risks. He has advised U.S. and global companies on developing programs specific to UN, US, and EU sanctions. More recently, Pier and the Crowell team are working to develop Crowell’s Business and Human Rights sub-practice which includes Crowell’s anti-forced labor investigatory work.

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Photo of Andrew J. Schlegel Andrew J. Schlegel

Andrew Schlegel is an international trade analyst III in Crowell & Moring’s Washington, D.C. office. He provides practice support to the International Trade Group on import regulatory matters pending before the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) and U.S. Customs and Border

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Andrew Schlegel is an international trade analyst III in Crowell & Moring’s Washington, D.C. office. He provides practice support to the International Trade Group on import regulatory matters pending before the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP). He works closely with attorneys developing courses of action for clients impacted by investigations under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974 and Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962. Andrew also supports unfair trade investigations, including antidumping (AD) and countervailing duty (CVD) investigations, sunset reviews, and changed circumstance reviews before the Department of Commerce and the International Trade Commission (ITC).

Prior to joining Crowell & Moring, Andrew worked as an intern at SAP’s Government Affairs Business Development Team in Berlin, Germany. There, he analyzed the effects of regulatory changes on SAP business operations and expansion opportunities. Before this, he completed an internship at the International Trade Administration’s Office of Energy and Environmental Industries. While there, he developed the U.S. Energy Trade Dashboard, an interactive data visualization tool for use by professionals and researchers to analyze how energy supply chains have developed.

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