Section 301 sample case plaintiffs HMTX Industries and Jasco Products “persuasively argue” that the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative “clearly exceeded its authority” under the 1974 Trade Act when it imposed the “massive” Lists 3 and 4A tariffs on “virtually all imports” from China not previously dutied, “without connecting them to the underlying investigation of China’s trade practices,” said CTA, the National Retail Federation and five other trade groups Monday in an amicus brief (in Pacer) in docket 1:21-cv-52 at the U.S. Court of International Trade.

The U.S. government laid out two changes it made to the repository for entries subject to Section 301 duties in response to the plaintiffs' concerns, in an Aug. 9 joint status report filed at the Court of International Trade. Following the court's order of a preliminary injunction against liquidation of entries with Section 301 exposure pending resolution of litigation (see 2107060077), much haggling has been done between the parties over the terms of the injunction, prompting continued changes from the U.S. (see 2108020029).

The following are short summaries of recent CBP “NY” rulings issued by the agency's National Commodity Specialist Division in New York:

The following lawsuits were recently filed at the Court of International Trade:

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Section 301 sample case plaintiffs HMTX Industries and Jasco Products “persuasively argue” that the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative “clearly exceeded its authority” under the 1974 Trade Act when it imposed the “massive” lists 3 and 4A tariffs on “virtually all imports” from China “without connecting them to the underlying investigation of China’s trade practices,” said the Consumer Technology Association, the National Retail Federation and five other trade groups Aug. 9 in an amicus brief in docket 1:21-cv-52 at the U.S. Court of International Trade.

The Biden administration should retroactively restore Section 301 tariff exclusions that expired last year, open a new exclusion application process and “continue negotiations with China to remove both nations’ counterproductive tariffs as soon as possible," nearly three dozen associations and business groups, including the National Retail Federation and Information Technology Industry Council, wrote Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai Thursday. Achieving “durable, concrete, meaningful results” with China to “level the playing field for American businesses” won’t be easy, said the groups. “Fully resolving tariffs is unlikely, absent substantially more progress by China on core issues.” U.S. importers pay about 18.5% more for Chinese products with Section 301 tariff exposure, they said. The administration “can take immediate steps to relieve increasing inflationary pressures and rising prices,” said the groups. “A worker-centered trade agenda should account for the costs that U.S. and Chinese tariffs impose on Americans here at home and remove tariffs that harm U.S. interests.” Treasury and USTR didn’t comment Friday.

Monday’s the deadline for Section 301 plaintiffs and the government to deliver the U.S. Court of International Trade a joint status report on how the sides are progressing to resolve their disagreements over proposed rules to create a Customs and Border Protection repository for importers to request suspended liquidation of customs entries from China with Lists 3 and 4A tariff exposure. The court’s July 6 preliminary injunction order freezing the status of unliquidated entries instructed CBP to have the repository up and running by July 20 (see 2107060080), but two postponements amid all the disagreements pushed the deadline back a month. Chief Judge Mark Barnett used the court’s status conference last Monday to urge the sides to seek “middle ground” (see 2108010002). Monday also is the deadline for plaintiff attorneys in the roughly 3,800 Section 301 complaints to file amicus briefs supporting Akin Gump’s arguments for sample-case plaintiffs HMTX Industries and Jasco Products that the tariffs are unlawful and should be refunded with interest. With an estimated 300 lawyers or more representing the complaints of 6,500 individual importers, the court’s April 13 scheduling order had ground rules to try to keep the amicus filings from getting out of hand. Lawyers must limit each brief to 5,000 words, it said. “Any amicus brief must be limited to the claims raised” in the HMTX-Jasco sample case “and must not repeat arguments already made” by Akin Gump, it said. The scheduling order gave DOJ until Oct. 1 to respond to the briefs, and Akin Gump until Nov. 15 to counter. “The court does not anticipate extending these deadlines absent extraordinary circumstances, which may include an exceptionally large number of amicus briefs presenting distinct arguments,” it said.

The following lawsuits were recently filed at the Court of International Trade:

More than 30 trade groups, led by the U.S.-China Business Council, are asking the Biden administration to retroactively restore product exclusions that expired last year, open a new exclusion application process "and continue negotiations with China to remove both nations’ counterproductive tariffs as soon as possible." In an Aug. 5 letter, the groups said China followed through on phase one promises to open to financial services providers and eliminate market access barriers for beef and some fruits and grains. They acknowledged that China is not on track to meet its purchase commitments, and said that China needs to be prodded to fully implement some other structural commitments, "particularly in the areas of biotechnology, patent linkage, services (including financial services), and protection of intellectual property rights."