Court of International Trade

The U.S. Court of International Trade has ordered the Commerce Department to vacate a two-year moratorium established in 2022 on duties levied on solar products found to be circumventing U.S. trade remedies. CIT on Aug. 22 granted a motion by domestic companies Auxin Solar, Inc. and Concept Clean Energy, Inc. to rescind rules implementing the pause, which had applied to duties on crystalline silicon photovoltaic cells and modules that Commerce had found to be evading antidumping and countervailing duty orders...

The state of California is contesting the Justice Department’s interpretation of a recent concurrence by Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh that the government is touting as a signal that the high court would grant the president wide latitude to impose tariffs through the International Emergency Economic Powers Act. California is one of a long list of state and private plaintiffs challenging President Trump’s invocation of IEEPA to impose tariffs, calling the policy an overreach of his executive authority and claiming...

The Justice Department is citing recent U.S. Supreme Court decisions in arguing that the president has broad authority under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act to impose tariffs, pointing to the high court’s finding that two key legal doctrines underpinning challengers’ arguments in the case have narrower application when applied to matters involving foreign affairs. DOJ on Monday filed a reply brief in a case brought by two Texas-based education product companies that have contested President Trump’s authority to impose...

A U.S. court decision revoking tariffs imposed by President Trump under emergency powers would wreck the U.S. economy, the Justice Department said in a filing on Monday, formalizing an argument made last week by the president. In an Aug. 11 letter to the clerk of the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, Justice said a ruling against the tariffs imposed under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act would leave the U.S. unable to “pay back” anticipated revenue from new...

The latest business coalition to sue over President Trump’s International Emergency Economic Powers Act tariffs is sparring with the Justice Department over whether its case can move forward in Texas or must instead be transferred to the Court of International Trade, testing plaintiff attorneys’ strategy of seeking decisions on the tariffs from as many courts as possible. Both sides in the tariff suit, titled FIREDISC, et al., v. Trump, have lodged a blitz of legal filings with the U.S. District...

The Trump administration is facing a sprawling legal fight over its new antidumping and countervailing duties on certain solar-power components from Malaysia, Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand, as not only countries and producers subject to the remedies but even the U.S. firms that successfully sought them are now suing over the final orders at the Court of International Trade. CIT’s online docket shows 15 pending cases that have been filed since July 24 over the Commerce Department’s final orders on crystalline...

A former GOP lawmaker, several progressive groups and other stakeholders are pressing federal appeals courts to broadly reject President Trump’s use of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act to impose tariffs on most U.S. trading partners, with some warning that a final decision upholding the duties would fundamentally reorder the separation of powers between Congress and the executive. In an array of amicus briefs filed last week with appellate courts in California and Washington, DC, allies of the plaintiffs challenging...