A U.S. gun sights importer again argued in the Court of International Trade on Dec. 8 that its products should be classified under the tariff schedule as “apparatuses,” not as “light fittings,” because the latter provision didn't fully cover the sights’ use of ionizing radiation (Trijicon Inc. v. United States, CIT # 22-00040).
Country of origin cases
A South Korean steel export company told the Court of International Trade that government intervention before and during its sale to new owners didn't constitute continuing government subsidies, saying the acquisition was still made at fair market value (KG Dongbu Steel v. U.S., CIT # 23-00055).
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit Judge Pauline Newman argued against her colleagues' argument that Newman's case against their investigation into her fitness to continue serving on the bench was mooted. Filing a sur-reply at the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, the 96-year-old Newman said that her colleagues' voluntary cessation of an order indefinitely suspending the judge from hearing cases is "insufficient to moot the challenge," adding that the "complained-of conduct fits into the 'capable of repetition, yet evading review' exception to mootness" (The Hon. Pauline Newman v. The Hon. Kimberly Moore, D.D.C. # 23-01334).
The following are short summaries of recent CBP NY rulings issued by the agency's National Commodity Specialist Division in New York:
Colony Gums and Marine Hydrocolloids evaded an antidumping duty order on xanthan gum from China, CBP said in the final determination of an Enforce and Protect Act investigation. The agency said it found substantial evidence that the importers had transshipped Chinese-origin xanthan gum through India, necessitating the imposition of interim measures.
A Chinese brick exporter alleged Dec. 4 at the Court of International Trade that the Commerce Department is illegally expanding the scope of its antidumping and countervailing duty orders on Chinese-imported magnesia carbon bricks (Fedmet Resources v. U.S., CIT # 23-00117).
The following are short summaries of recent CBP NY rulings issued by the agency's National Commodity Specialist Division in New York:
German company KingKong-Tools GmbH & Co KG, along with its American subsidiary King Kong Tools, will pay $1.9 million to resolve allegations of customs fraud, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Georgia announced. The office alleged that King Kong falsely said its tool imports were made in Germany when they were made in China, misrepresenting their country of origin in violation of the False Claims Act.
The following are short summaries of recent CBP NY rulings issued by the agency's National Commodity Specialist Division in New York:
The Court of International Trade in a Dec. 1 order stayed a customs fraud case against Zhe "John" Liu pending resolution of the ongoing criminal investigation of Liu. The civil case against Liu and importer GL Paper Distribution was filed at the trade court in July 2022, in which the U.S. alleged that Liu operated a scheme via a series of companies that imported steel wire hangers that were given false countries of origin. Liu allegedly created the companies for a transshipment scheme that involved sending wire hangers from China subject to antidumping and countervailing duties through Malaysia, India and Thailand in a bid to disguise their origin (see 2303160050). Judge Jane Restani stayed the government's case against Liu and GL Paper, ordering the parties to file a joint status report April 1 (U.S. v. Zhe "John" Liu, CIT # 22-00215).