More than 3,500 Section 301 complaints have inundated the U.S. Court of International Trade challenging the lawfulness of the Lists 3 and 4A tariffs on Chinese imports, “and there’s likely more to come,” trade expert John Brew of Crowell & Moring told a Sports & Fitness Industry Association webinar Tuesday.

More than 3,500 Section 301 complaints have inundated the U.S. Court of International Trade challenging the lawfulness of the lists 3 and 4A tariffs on Chinese imports, “and there’s likely more to come,” trade lawyer John Brew of Crowell & Moring told a Sports and Fitness Industry Association webinar Jan. 26.

Philips is “on track” to complete the “divestment” of its domestic appliances business in the third quarter, said CEO Frans van Houten on a Q4 investor call Monday. Domestic appliances are a strong business that “returned to robust growth with increasing margins” in 2020's second half, he said. “We continue to see good interest for the asset and remain open to different divestment options to deliver the best value for the company.” He identified no possible suitors. The “gross impact” to the domestic appliances business from the Section 301 tariffs on China was “substantial,” said van Houten. “We have mitigated that down to a level of around 25 million euros” by diversifying the supply chain, he said. If tariffs are “rolled back” under the Biden administration, that would be a “net positive for us," but “I don't see that happening anytime soon,” he said.

Robert Lighthizer, immediate past U.S. trade representative, said that during his time in office, every decision was based on “how it brings manufacturing jobs back to the United States,” and, he said, “I think you’re hearing the same kind of language out of the Biden administration, for which I’m grateful.”

The following lawsuits were filed at the Court of International Trade during the week of Jan. 18-24:

Robert Lighthizer’s departure as U.S. trade representative with the passing of the Trump administration spawned the first Section 301 complaint among many inundating the U.S. Court of International Trade to bring suit against his former agency instead of Lighthizer himself. Wacom Technology, an importer of digital pen displays for creative artists, alleged like thousands of others that the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative overstepped its authority when it imposed the lists 3 and 4A tariffs on Chinese imports, and seeks to have the tariffs vacated and the money refunded. “Now-former Ambassador Lighthizer made numerous decisions regarding List 3 and List 4,” Wacom said Jan. 25. “At the time of filing this complaint,” Lighthizer “no longer held the position” of USTR, and hasn’t been replaced, it said. “The actions at issue in this complaint were and are being performed in the official capacity” of Lighthizer’s former agency, it said.

International Trade Today is providing readers with the top stories from Jan. 19-22 in case they were missed. All articles can be found by searching on the titles or by clicking on the hyperlinked reference number.

CBP published notices in the Customs Bulletin revoking or modifying numerous rulings in 2020. These ruling revocations and modifications also apply to “any treatment previously accorded by CBP to substantially identical transactions.” When revoking or modifying a ruling, CBP is required by 19 USC 1625(c) to publish notice of the proposed action, and allow a period—generally one month—for comment before finalizing the action. An importer’s failure to advise CBP of “substantially identical transactions” or of a ruling not identified by CBP in these notices “may raise issues of reasonable care on the part of the importer or its agents for importations of merchandise subsequent to the effective date of this notice.” Rulings CBP revoked or modified in 2020 are as follows:

CBP published several thousand prospective rulings in 2020 on its Customs Rulings Online Search System (CROSS) database. The agency issues its rulings from either the National Commodity Specialist Division in New York, which handles issues like classification, country of origin, marking and preferential treatment, or the Office of Regulations and Rulings at CBP headquarters in Washington, D.C., which may also decide other issues, such as valuation, drawback, exclusion order enforcement and liquidation.

Even though the Joe Biden administration will have a very different approach to trade than did the Trump administration, that will not mean a wholesale rejection of what its predecessors did, analysts said during a Center for Strategic and International Studies webinar Jan. 21.