The Timber Working Group, a structure established in 2021 instead of tariffs after a Section 301 investigation on Vietnamese trading practices, discussed how Vietnam is keeping confiscated timber out of the commercial supply chain, how Vietnam verifies the legality of domestically harvested timber, and how Vietnam is "working with high-risk source countries to improve customs enforcement at the border and law enforcement collaboration."
The following are short summaries of recent CBP NY rulings issued by the agency's National Commodity Specialist Division in New York:
The Customs Rulings Online Search System (CROSS) was updated Aug. 21 with the following headquarters rulings (ruling revocations and modifications will be detailed elsewhere in a separate article as they are announced in the Customs Bulletin):
The following lawsuit was recently filed at the Court of International Trade:
Law firm Benesch Friedlander changed its Cleveland address from 200 Public Square, Suite 2300, to 127 Public Square, Suite 4900. The firm notified the Court of International Trade on Aug. 18. Benesch Friedlander attorneys represent various clients in 19 separate Section 301 cases, all of which are a part of the massive litigation.
An expert on China's electric vehicle manufacturing praised the Inflation Reduction Act's incentives to build U.S. advanced battery manufacturing capacity but told the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission that completely cutting China out of that sector's supply chain is impractical. The Zero Emissions Transportation Association has made similar arguments (see 2208040045); the Treasury Department has not yet said how the "country of concern" restrictions for EV tax credits will be applied. However, Treasury allows leased cars to avoid all the localization rules.
The U.S. asked for another 60 days to file its reply brief in the massive Section 301 litigation at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. The government said the present suit is a test case for over 4,100 similar cases and an extension would allow DOJ more time to confer with all the federal agencies involved in the case (HMTX Industries v. U.S., Fed. Cir. # 23-1891).
The following lawsuits were filed at the Court of International Trade during the week of Aug. 7-13:
Stephen Morrison, former law clerk at the Court of International Trade, joined Morris Manning as an international trade associate, the firm said in a letter to the trade court. Since he served as a law clerk for the last two years at CIT, Morrison is barred from working on various cases at the trade court, including the massive Section 301 case, the firm said.
Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., and Sen. Jon Ossoff, D-Ga., joined by 15 members of the Florida House delegation, Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., and four House members from Georgia, asked the U.S. trade representative for an update on a private sector industry advisory panel of Southeastern fruit and vegetable producers.