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

The U.S. Court of International Trade, site of the massive Section 301 litigation, plans to return about half its staff to its Foley Square location in lower Manhattan by mid-July, Chief Judge Mark Barnett told our affiliated publication Trade Law Daily. The court hasn't had a scheduled staff presence in its building since March 2020, said the judge. The goal is a "sustained reopening" with half the employees continuing to telework for a few months after the summer, he said. Barnett, who took over as chief judge April 5 (see 2104060041), said the early days of his tenure were dominated by how to transition out of a "maximum telework" environment. "If you spoke to any chief judge across the country, that’s what’s occupying a fair degree of our administrative time," he said. "There’s just a lot of different angles to it. There’s staff, you need to think about them. You need to think about what it means in terms of proceedings and how they’re conducted. You need to think about participants in those proceedings and what their status may be, their ability to be in person or not for various reasons."

Belkin International added its name Thursday to the massive Section 301 litigation at the U.S. Court of International Trade, seeking to vacate the Lists 3 and 4A tariffs and get the duties refunded on allegations the tariffs are unlawful under the 1974 Trade Act and 1946 Administrative Procedure Act. Foxconn-owned Belkin imports 69 categories of consumer tech accessories and other goods from China with List 3 tariff exposure and 26 categories with exposure to List 4, said its complaint (in Pacer). Belkin joins the growing list of cases being stayed without assignment to the court’s three-judge panel presiding over the HMTX-Jasco sample 301 case under the April 28 administrative order signed by Chief Judge Mark Barnett (see 2104290002). Akin Gump attorneys for HMTX-Jasco also represent Belkin.

According to the White House budget, importers are expected to pay $85 billion in tariffs in the current fiscal year, which ends Sept. 30. But the administration projects that duties collections will fall to $57 billion in fiscal year 2022, and to $45 billion in FY23. Alvaro Ferreira, a consultant to Sandler Travis law firm and an economist by training, said he doesn't know what assumptions the Office of Management and Budget used to make its projections, but he thinks "maybe the administration is thinking: Let’s not take the [Section] 301 tariffs for granted, [in case] there’s an adverse court ruling by the Court of International Trade."

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

The Customs Rulings Online Search System (CROSS) was updated June 4. The following headquarters rulings were modified recently, according to CBP:

A Japanese and a Korean economist said that trade tensions between their two countries are no longer really disrupting Korea's semiconductor industry, though they are still increasing costs for some of the Japanese exporters.

After the House Ways and Means Committee chairman expressed optimism that global tax negotiations would solve the problem of digital services taxes around the world, Rep. Kevin Brady of Texas, the ranking Republican on the committee, said that President Joe Biden's strategy is a lose-lose for America.

The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative concluded its one-year Section 301 investigation into the digital services tax policies of Austria, India, Italy, Spain, Turkey and U.K. by imposing and immediately suspending remedial tariffs against those countries, said the agency Wednesday. Putting the tariffs on hold for up to 180 days will give more time to complete the ongoing multilateral negotiations on international taxation at the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development and through the G20 process, it said. The U.S. “remains committed to reaching a consensus on international tax issues through the OECD and G20 processes,” said USTR Katherine Tai. “Today’s actions provide time for those negotiations to continue to make progress while maintaining the option of imposing tariffs under Section 301 if warranted in the future.” DSTs "undercut significant activity in multilateral negotiations and further fragment the international tax system,” said Information Technology Industry Council CEO Jason Oxman. ITI encourages all governments to "quickly withdraw" DSTs "and double down on their work to realize a multilateral, consensus-based agreement" through the OECD and G20, he said. The Computer & Communications Industry Association “welcomes USTR’s actions in the Section 301 investigations that show the continued commitment of the U.S. to the ongoing negotiations, while making clear that tariffs remain an option if discriminatory taxes continue,” said Policy Counsel Rachael Stelly.

The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative concluded its one-year Section 301 investigation into the digital services tax policies of Austria, India, Italy, Spain, Turkey and U.K. by imposing and immediately suspending remedial tariffs against those countries, said the agency Wednesday. Putting the tariffs on hold for up to 180 days will give more time to complete the ongoing multilateral negotiations on international taxation at the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development and through the G20 process, it said. The U.S. “remains committed to reaching a consensus on international tax issues through the OECD and G20 processes,” said USTR Katherine Tai. “Today’s actions provide time for those negotiations to continue to make progress while maintaining the option of imposing tariffs under Section 301 if warranted in the future.” DSTs "undercut significant activity in multilateral negotiations and further fragment the international tax system,” said Information Technology Industry Council CEO Jason Oxman. ITI encourages all governments to "quickly withdraw" DSTs "and double down on their work to realize a multilateral, consensus-based agreement" through the OECD and G20, he said. The Computer & Communications Industry Association “welcomes USTR’s actions in the Section 301 investigations that show the continued commitment of the U.S. to the ongoing negotiations, while making clear that tariffs remain an option if discriminatory taxes continue,” said Policy Counsel Rachael Stelly.