The government’s appeal of Court of International Trade Judge Richard Eaton’s order for the government to refund duties imposed under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act sparked uncertainty about the refund process, prompting Eaton to raise his frustrations with the government’s handling of the refund process in a June 3 letter sent to the government, attorneys told us (V.O.S. Selections v. United States, CIT # 25-00066).
Customs has now said explicitly what many trade lawyers suspected -- that, without an importer-specific court order, "it has no intention of paying refunds on entries which are 'liquidated and final' – and more entries assume that status every day,” Neville Peterson wrote in a blog post June 1.
Canadian steel companies Farjess and Royal Canadian Steel and their president, Feroz Jessani, agreed to pay $19 million on May 20 to settle allegations that they violated the False Claims Act by evading duties on flat-rolled steel from Europe and Asia.
The Court of International Trade denied the government’s motion for a stay of enforcement of the court’s ruling against Section 122 tariffs and its order for an injunction against collecting Section 122 duties from plaintiffs Burlap and Barrel, Basic Fun and the State of Washington.
Chinese executives and four of the world's largest shipping container manufacturing companies were indicted for conspiring to restrict the output of almost all standard unrefrigerated shipping containers between November 2019 and January 2024, DOJ said. The conspiracy doubled the prices of standard shipping containers between 2019 and 2021, increasing the container manufacturers' profits.
Sunseeker International and Sunseeker USA pleaded guilty to two violations of the Lacey Act and agreed to pay a $200,000 fine for using illegally logged Burmese teak on multiple luxury yachts imported into the U.S.
Perfectus Aluminum and Perfectus Aluminum Acquisitions, along with four affiliated warehousing companies, agreed to pay $549.5 million to settle False Claims Act allegations that they evaded antidumping duty and countervailing duty orders on aluminum extrusions from China.
Judge Richard Eaton, in a summary of a closed conference between CBP and the company representing those who are owed refunds of tariffs paid under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, wrote that CBP is in contact with representatives of customs bond companies on their refund claims. In some cases, importers of record didn't have the money to pay those duties, so sureties stepped in and paid up to the bond coverage.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit granted the government’s request for an immediate stay of the Court of International Trade's recent judgment striking down Section 122 tariffs (The State of Oregon v. Donald J. Trump, Fed. Cir. # 26-1804; Burlap and Barrel v. Donald J. Trump, Fed. Cir. # 26-1805).
The U.S. requested May 11 that the Court of International Trade stay its decision finding Section 122 tariffs unlawful and barring collection of the tariffs from importers Burlap and Barrel, Basic Fun and the State of Washington, while the government appeals the court’s May 7 ruling (The State of Oregon v. Donald J. Trump, CIT # 26-01472) (Burlap and Barrel v. Donald J. Trump, CIT # 26-01606).