Decision on Section 301 List 3 and 4A

The Court of International Trade has issued a decision in the lead case challenging the Section 301 duties on products of China covered by List 3 and 4A. 

This case is almost unique in the number of plaintiffs and law firms involved. The most similar prior circumstance involving as much of the customs and trade bar was the litigation involving Harbor Maintenance Tax, which went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court in 1998 resulting in a decision called United States v. U.S. Shoe Corp. 

For purposes of this blog, this raises an issue. My firm, like dozens of other firms, has plaintiffs asserting the same claims. The matter is ongoing and, therefore, I don't want to say much about anything.

So here is the short version. The Court previously remanded the matter to the USTR to provide a better explanation of how the record demonstrates that the agency properly engaged with public comments in opposition to the List 3 and 4A tariffs including the size of the remedy and whether there were alternatives that might be available and effective. USTR did that and the Court found the explanation sufficient to overcome the plaintiffs' arguments. The Court, therefore, found that the USTR had acted within the requirements of administrative law when it made its decision.

Read the decision; it is interesting.

There is, undoubtedly, more to come in this dispute. Stay tuned.


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