Mixes of frozen fruits should be classified under tariff provisions for food preparations, rather than in a subheading for "other" frozen fruits, because the latter provision is for frozen fruits other than the fruits listed in the relevant heading rather than complete fruit mixtures, importer Nature's Touch argued in a March 13 suplemental brief (Nature's Touch Frozen Foods (West). v. U.S., CIT # 20-00131).

The Commerce Department impermissably favored one side through a series of actions around a scope ruling on ceramic tiles from China, including an exclusive meeting with a domestic tile producer that unfairly prejudiced the agency, importers Elysium Tiles and Elysium Tile Florida said in a March 16 complaint at the Court of International Trade (Elysium Tiles v. U.S., CIT # 23-00041).

CBP failed to consider the "double transformation" of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) chips as inputs into PET film from Bahrain, instead treating the chips as non-originating material for purposes of the minimum value content calculation, Bahrainian importer JBF told the Court of International Trade in a March 16 complaint. The suit challenges CBP's denial of duty-free treatment under the U.S.-Bahrain Free Trade Agreement for goods manufactured by JBF and CBP's refusal to deduct a post-import rebate from the price paid for PET chips, which are a component of PET film (JBF Bahrain v. U.S., CIT # 23-00067).

The Court of International Trade on March 16 upheld the use of a questionnaire instead of on-site verification in the Commerce Department's countervailing duty investigation on aluminum sheet from Turkey. Judge M. Miller Baker said that Commerce "easily" defeated respondent Teknik Aluminyum Sanayi's challenge because Teknik cited no authority requiring the agency to carry out a certain verification procedure during a global pandemic.

The Court of International Trade upheld the U.S. Trade Representative's Lists 3 and 4A tariff action under Section 301 on China in a widely-anticipated decision on March 17. After the tariffs were previously sent back over concerns of compliance with the Administrative Procedures Act, the USTR offered further explanations of its tariff decisions. Judges Mark Barnet, Claire Kelly and Jennifer Choe-Groves held that these explanations were not made impermissibly post hoc and cleared APA requirements.

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 does not need an additional 91 days to produce a remand redetermination on a scope ruling involving antidumping and countervailing duties on common alloy aluminum sheet from China, importer Valeo said in a March 14 response motion at the Court of International Trade (Valeo North America v. United States, CIT # 21-00581).

Four U.S. steel companies failed to show that they had a right to intervene in a case contesting the International Trade Commission's decision not to review an antidumping injury proceeding on hot-rolled steel imports from Turkey, exporter Eregli Demir ve Celik Fabrikalari (Erdemir) argued in a March 14 motion. Erdemir said the companies -- Cleveland-Cliffs, Nucor Corp., Steel Dynamics and SSAB Enterprises -- "blurred standards, omitted material facts of cases, and misrepresented the holdings of cases" (Eregli Demir ve Celik Fabrikalari v. U.S. , CIT # 22-00349).

Industrial shredders imported by Vecoplan are classifiable as grinding and crushing tools under the Harmonized Tariff Schedule because the shredding operations break down material into small fragments and reduce the size of material by means of impacting the waste material, the importer argued in a March 15 motion (Vecoplan v. United States, CIT # 20-00126).

CBP correctly classified a supermodule for use in hydrogen fuel-cell powerplants as parts of electric generators rather than as a water gas generator, DOJ argued in a March 15 motion at the Court of International Trade (HyAxium v. United States, CIT # 21-00057).