Jacob Kopnick

The chair of the fisheries subsidies negotiations at the World Trade Organization, Iceland's Einar Gunnarsson, is looking to wrap up the second wave of fisheries negotiations by the General Council meeting in December. Gunnarsson said he held meetings with 28 WTO members and group representatives, finding that the "overwhelming majority" of these parties "consider that the draft text" on the fisheries subsidies talks "serves as the basis" for reaching a final deal.

Hendricks Valenzuela, a U.S. trade attorney, has been promoted to senior attorney in the Commerce Department's Office of the Chief Counsel for Trade Enforcement and Compliance, he said on LinkedIn. Valenzuela joined the agency in 2020 as an attorney.

The Court of International Trade has jurisdiction over importer Retractable Technologies' suit against the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative's 100% Section 301 rate hike on needles and syringes, given that the court has already acknowledged its ability to hear cases on agency action taken under presidential direction, Retractable said. Responding to the government's motion to dismiss the case Nov. 19, Retractable pointed to the trade court's recent decision in the case granting a preliminary injunction (PI) on the liquidation of the importer's entries subject to the duties (Retractable Technologies v. U.S., CIT # 24-00185).

Solar exporters and importers, led by the American Clean Power Association, said a suit challenging the Commerce Department's duty pause on solar cells and modules from four Southeast Asian countries is "moot" due to a failure to identify an injury that would be redressable through the retroactive imposition of AD/CVD (Auxin Solar v. United States, CIT # 23-00274).

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit on Nov. 19 adopted amendments to its practice rules and notes and attorney discipline rules, the court announced. The changes will take effect Dec. 1 and will apply to "all cases filed order pending on or after" Dec. 1, unless otherwise ordered, the court said.

Importer Coulisse Distribution voluntarily dismissed its customs suit at the Court of International Trade on its DC (direct current) electric motors, filing a notice of dismissal Nov. 14. Coulisse filed the suit seeking an exclusion from Section 301 duties under Harmonized Tariff Schedule secondary subheading 9903.88.67. The motors were classified under subheading 8501.10.4060, dutiable at 4.4%, and secondary subheading 9903.88.01. Counsel for the importer didn't respond to our request for comment (Coulisse Distribution v. U.S., CIT # 23-00245).

No lawsuits were recently filed at the Court of International Trade.

The former CEO of 500.com, which now operates as crypto mining company BIT Mining Ltd., was charged with violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act by paying bribes to Japanese government officials, DOJ announced. In addition, BIT Mining agreed to settle DOJ and SEC investigations into its FCPA violations, entering into a three-year deferred prosecution agreement with DOJ.

Antidumping duty petitioner Coalition of American Millwork Producers dismissed its case on the 2022-23 review of the AD duty order on wood moldings and millwork products from China. The petitioner filed a notice of dismissal at the Court of International Trade on Nov. 15 at the Court of International Trade. Counsel for the coalition didn't immediately respond to request for comment (Coalition of American Millwork Producers v. U.S., CIT # 24-00194).

The World Trade Organization's published agenda for the Dispute Settlement Body's Nov. 25 meeting includes a request from the EU to suspend certain concessions to the U.S. due to its antidumping and countervailing duties on ripe olives from Spain.