The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative “properly exercised its authority” under the Section 307 modification provisions of the 1974 Trade Act when it ordered the imposition of the lists 3 and 4A Section 301 tariffs on Chinese imports, the Court of International Trade ruled in an April 1 opinion. Test-case plaintiffs HMTX Industries and Jasco Products, plus the more than 3,600 complaints that followed, sought to vacate the tariffs on grounds that lists 3 and 4A were unlawful without USTR launching a new Section 301 investigation.

Senators on the committee that oversees trade pressed U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai repeatedly on why the administration isn't engaged in negotiations with other countries to get them to lower their tariffs, so that U.S. exporters, particularly agricultural producers, can gain more market share. Both Democrats and Republicans questioned the decision to pursue the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework as something other than a traditional free trade agreement,

U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai endorsed the Level the Playing Act during a four-hour hearing in front of the House Ways and Means Committee after one of its House sponsors noted the House and the Senate are about to go to conference, and the proposal to rewrite antidumping duty and countervailing duty laws is going to be on the table.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit affirmed a 35% duty rate for StarKist's tuna salad pouches, agreeing with CBP's preferred Harmonized Tariff Schedule subheading, in a March 30 opinion. Upholding the Court of International Trade's opinion, Judges Kimberly Moore, Timothy Dyk and Jimmie Reyna said that the tuna pouches were "not minced" and "in oil," prompting their placement under subheading 1604.14.10.

As CBP works to implement the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act, its champion, Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., told International Trade Today he's concerned that CBP will not strictly enforce the law, which says that any good with any input from China's Xinjiang region is assumed to contain forced labor.

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.

The Court of International Trade dismissed a case brought by the U.S. government seeking the collection of over $5.7 million in unpaid duties from Katana Racing on passenger vehicle and light truck tires from China. In a March 28 opinion, Judge Thomas Aquilino granted Katana's motion to dismiss based on an expired statute of limitations. The judge ruled that Katana was allowed to revoke an earlier statute of limitations waiver and concluded that without the waiver, any action by CBP is barred by the passage of time (United States v. Katana Racing Inc., d/b/a Wheel & Tire Distributors, CIT #19-00125).

The Court of International Trade ruled that CBP properly classified eight models of gloves imported by Magid Glove & Safety Manufacturing Co. as knit textile gloves, rather than as gloves made of plastics. In a March 25 opinion, Judge Timothy Stanceu sided with the government and ruled CBP correctly classified the gloves imported from China and South Korea in 2015 and correctly denied Magid's 2016 CBP protest (Magid Glove & Safety Manufacturing Co. v. United States, CIT #16-00150).

The Commerce Department will consider an expansion of antidumping and countervailing duties on solar cells from China to include solar cells from Cambodia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam made from Chinese components, it said in notice released March 28 announcing the beginning of an anti-circumvention inquiry.

The submission or completion of CBP and Department of Defense forms related to imports of household goods and personal effects constitutes "customs business" and requires any third-party filers to be licensed customs brokers, the agency said in September ruling that was recently released. The ruling came in response to an internal CBP information request from the Port of Baltimore on the requirements for the submission of CBP forms 3461, 7501, 3299, and DOD Form 1252.