Trade Court Grants Consent Motion to Drop Section 1581(i) Claims From EAPA Scope Challenge

The Court of International Trade granted relief to the U.S. from its responsibility to file a reply brief and an administrative record in response to importer AA Metals' claims under Section 1581(i), the Court of International Trade's "residual" jurisdiction. Both sides agreed that jurisdiction under AA Metals' scope challenge fits under Section 1581(c). The U.S.'s April 25 consent motion asks to drop the Section 1581(i) claims (AA Metals v. U.S., CIT #21-00051).

The case stems from an Enforce and Protect Act investigation CBP began in May 2021 to see whether goods imported by AA Metals were evading the antidumping duty and countervailing duty orders on common alloy aluminum sheet from China by way of Turkey. Unable to find whether certain products in two different scenarios were in the scope of the orders, CBP asked Commerce for a scope ruling. AA Metals contested the ruling at CIT (see 2202280045).