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

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

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit on Jan. 22 issued its mandate in a pair of cases seeking to retroactively apply Section 301 tariff exclusions. In the suits, the appellate court sustained the dismissal of the cases for a lack of subject matter jurisdiction, finding that a protest must have been filed with CBP to properly effectuate relief. The Court of International Trade initially said jurisdiction was not to be had under Section 1581(i), the court's "residual" jurisdiction, since the court would have had jurisdiction under Section 1581(a) had a protest been filed (see 2209060035). The Federal Circuit affirmed, finding that the true nature of the suits contests CBP's assessment of the duties and not the U.S. Trade Representative's decision to grant an exclusion, even though the exclusions were granted after the deadline for filing a protest had lapsed (ARP Materials v. United States, Fed. Cir. # 21-2176) (The Harrison Steel Castings Co. v. United States, Fed. Cir. # 21-2177).

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

Target Corp. told the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit that the U.S. failed to distinguish the court's opinion in Cemex v. U.S. from Target's case, in which the retail giant is contesting a court-ordered reliquidation of its entries that erroneously received a favorable antidumping duty rate. Target said that no "amount of legal legerdemain and reference to" distinguishable case law can "mask the vacuity of" the "attempted distinctions" (Target Corp. v. United States, Fed. Cir. # 23-2274).

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

Ending most favored nation status for Chinese imports -- as advocated for by the House Select Committee on China and some other China hawks in Congress -- would increase consumer prices for laptops and smart phones by more than $100, and cause purchases of those goods to fall sharply, according to a recent study commissioned by the Consumer Technology Association.

The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative is amending an exclusion from Section 301 tariffs to align it with recent changes to the relevant Harmonized Tariff Schedule subheading (see 2401020049). The change affects the exclusion under U.S Note 20(ttt)(iii)(27) to subchapter III of Chapter 99, which had covered goods of subheading 2929.90.5090 and now covers goods of subheading 2929.90.5095 for entries on or after Jan. 1.

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

U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai says that her agency and Congress "will need to work closely together" to address the fact that "existing rules of origin have left openings" for Chinese firms with operations outside China to avoid Section 301 tariffs and, depending where the operations occur, benefit from free trade agreements.