On Monday, August 1st, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) filed remand results with the U.S. Court of International Trade (CIT), releasing updated explanations for retaliatory tariffs on roughly $300 billion worth of Chinese goods imposed in the midst of the U.S. – China Trade War. USTR filed the remand as
CIT/Federal Circuit Litigation
CIT issues Preliminary Injunction Temporarily Restraining Liquidation of Section 301 Import Entries
On August 24,2017, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) began a Section 301 investigation to determine whether acts, policies, and practices of the Government of China related to technology transfer, intellectual property, and innovation were actionable under the Trade Act of 1974. On March 22, 2018, USTR announced its affirmative findings and imposed…
Court of International Trade (CIT) Decision on Keg Order Addresses Alleged Forced Labor Concerns
On March 23, 2021, CIT Judge M. Miller Baker ruled largely in favor of Plaintiff’s motion for judgment on the agency record regarding concerns that labor cost data was compromised by forced labor. The Plaintiff, New American Keg, a domestic manufacturer that called on the U.S. Department of Commerce (DOC) to investigate keg imports in…
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit Asks Trade Attorneys to Simplify Briefs
During a recent panel at Georgetown Law’s annual International Trade Update, two Federal Circuit judges urged trade attorneys to consider their audience and simplify their briefs. Although the U.S. Court of International Trade is specialized, Federal Circuit Judge Todd M. Hughes emphasized how the conversation must change when a trade matter is appealed to the…
HTMX et al. v. United States – An (ongoing?) Opportunity for Importers to Recover Section 301 Tariffs Paid on Section 301 List 3 (and List 4a) Products
The Court of International Trade (“CIT”) saw nearly 3,000 complaints filed over a period of four days from Friday, September 18, 2020 to Monday, September 22, 2020 challenging the United States Trade Representative’s (“USTR”) authority to levy Section 301 Tariffs on products found on List 3 (and frequently, also those also found on List 4A)…
Treasury and CBP Must Allow Drawback Refunds of Excise Taxes Pending Government Appeal
The government has lost another battle in its fight to prevent refunds of certain excise taxes paid by importers. Earlier this year, the U.S. Court of International Trade (CIT) struck down a regulation issued by the Department of the Treasury and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (Treasury and CBP, collectively the agencies) designed to limit…
Preliminary Injunction Granted Against U.S. Government in Solar Energy Tariff Case
Last week, the U.S. Court of International Trade(CIT) granted a preliminary injunction prohibiting the federal government, including U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Acting Commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection Mark Morgan, from implementing the withdrawal of a tariff exclusion for bifacial solar panels without due process. The government’s withdrawal comes only months after…
Crowell & Moring Secures Customs Classification Victory for Irwin Tools Vise Grips® Hand Tools at U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit
Crowell & Moring represented Irwin Tools in a dispute over whether the company should have to pay increased duties on its Vise Grip® brand imported hand tools. The International Trade Group had previously won two rounds of summary judgment briefing and the government’s motion for reconsideration at the U.S. Court of International Trade. The government…
U.S. Court of International Trade Holds Section 232 Duties on Aluminum and Steel to be Constitutional
On March 25, 2019, the U.S. Court of International Trade (CIT) in American Institute for International Steel, Inc., Sim-Tex, LP and Kurt Orban Partners, LLC v. United States, held that Section 232 duties imposed on certain steel and aluminum imports by President Trump were constitutional. The three-judge panel denied the American Institute for International…
HOW HAS TRUMP’S AGGRESSIVE TRADE POLICY DRAMATICALLY INCREASED LITIGATION AT THE CIT? READ CROWELL & MORING’S 2019 LITIGATION FORECAST TO FIND OUT
Crowell & Moring has issued its seventh-annual “Litigation Forecast 2019: What Corporate Counsel Need to Know for the Coming Year.”
The story focusing on international trade, “Big Questions For The CIT,” provides a concise summary on how the Trump administration’s aggressive trade policy has dramatically increased the scope and scale of…