The International Trade Commission has seen its workload outpace its staffing in recent years, according to several current and former commissioners. Speaking on a panel at Georgetown Law's annual International Trade Update, Chairman David Johanson said that the agency's workload keeps going up despite its small staff of just over 400 employees.
Ben Perkins
Ben Perkins, Assistant Editor, is a reporter with International Trade Today and its sister publications, Trade Law Daily and Export Compliance Daily, where he covers sanctions, court rulings, and other international trade issues. He previously worked as a trade analyst for a Washington D.C. advisory firm. Ben holds a B.A. in English from the University of New Hampshire and an M.A. in International Relations from American University. Ben joined the staff of Warren Communications News in 2022.
The Commerce Department may still use single respondents in antidumping and countervailing duty investigations, despite a recent U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit ruling that found fault with the practice in one proceeding, a Justice Department attorney said during Georgetown Law's Annual International Trade Update conference on June 13.
Hemp wraps for use with non-tobacco legal herbal smoking mixtures are classifiable as "other" vegetable products, CBP said in a recently released ruling. The ruling came in response to an internal advice request, originally initiated over imports of wraps by Crown Distributing. The wraps were described by the requester as lacking tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and were intended for use only with non-tobacco legal herbal smoking mixtures.
The Court of International Trade should sustain the Commerce Department's remand results that stuck by the agency's prior finding that importer SMA Surface's "Twilight" surface does not qualify for the crushed glass surface products exclusion from antidumping and countervailing duties on quartz surface products from China (see 2304120063), DOJ said in its June 12 response (SMA Surfaces v. U.S., CIT # 21-00399).
The following are short summaries of recent CBP NY rulings issued by the agency's National Commodity Specialist Division in New York:
The Commerce Department made no changes its margin calculations for antidumping respondent Zinus Indonesia in its June 9 remand results an a case involving an administrative review on mattresses from India, with the agency saying that it fully addressed the Court of International Trade's remand order in the case and was not required to change its calculations if it fully explained its choices (PT. Zinus Global Indonesia v. U.S., CIT # 21-00277).
The Commerce Department unlawfully expanded the scope of antidumping and countervailing duty orders on magnesia alumina carbon bricks (MAC bricks) from China in a covered merchandise inquiry during an Enforce and Protect Act remand investigation regarding Fedmet's importation of MAC bricks, Fedmet argued in a June 12 complaint at the Court of International Trade (Fedmet Resource Corporation v. U.S., CIT # 23-00117).
Trailer wheels manufactured by Asia Wheel in Thailand were incorrectly ruled to be within the scope of antidumping and countervailing duty orders on certain steel wheels from China, U.S. importers Trailstar and TexTrail said in a pair of June 9 complaints at the Court of International Trade. Both complaints asked the court to find Commerce's final scope ruling illegal and to remand the ruling to the department (Trailstar v. U.S., CIT # 23-00097, and Textrail v. U.S., CIT # 23-00099).
The following are short summaries of recent CBP NY rulings issued by the agency's National Commodity Specialist Division in New York:
The Customs Rulings Online Search System (CROSS) was updated June 8 with the following headquarters rulings (ruling revocations and modifications will be detailed elsewhere in a separate article as they are announced in the Customs Bulletin):