IEEPA: Phase 3 launched today

CAPE Phase 3 opened today for finally liquidated entries covered by court-ordered relief for plaintiffs who have filed lawsuits. Filing a lawsuit alone does not automatically establish eligibility.

We are asking the Court of International Trade to certify a class so importers can obtain refunds regardless of when their entries liquidated, without the expense of individual lawsuits. Our proposed class would include eligible importers automatically. We had hoped for a ruling by the end of September; we are still waiting.

We also filed our Federal Circuit brief, attached here, arguing that importers have already borne enough costs and deserve equal treatment in securing refunds, regardless of liquidation status or whether they filed suit.

Meanwhile, CBP reports $126 billion in refunds and interest certified and sent to Treasury. Another $1.1 billion remains held for missing ACH information (which is down from $1.6B). If you submitted your refund request more than 90 days ago and are still waiting, check your ACH information and refund status—or contact me, and I will try to help.

Section 122: Protecting refunds while the appeal proceeds

The Section 122 tariffs ended July 24. We won at the Court of International Trade, and the government’s appeal is now before the Federal Circuit. Extensions (requested by the government attorneys) have pushed back briefing, and no hearing date has been set; we are preparing for the possibility of a January hearing–and we are ready!

Many of you have asked about preserving your right to refunds for Section 122. In the coming weeks, we plan to file a motion seeking class certification and suspension of liquidation for all 122 entries at the Court of International Trade. Our goal is to preserve importers’ refund rights while the case is decided and avoid the liquidation obstacles encountered with IEEPA. That protection will depend on the court granting our request.

–>If you are interested in serving as a plaintiff for the Section 122 class action, please let me know ASAP. We are looking for 2-5 importers that have directly paid the Section 122 tariffs to represent all importers.

Section 301: Additional briefing due October 16

Following the September 30 hearing, the judges asked both sides to answer additional questions. Our responses are due October 16. That adds another step before a decision; we hope to receive a ruling before Thanksgiving, but the timing remains with the court. The panel clearly sees the need for a swift resolution and said they would rule as soon as possible. (I do wish everything got resolved as quickly as it does on TV!). I know these cases seem like they are taking a long time (and they are) but unfortunately the justice system does not move quickly, and in terms of the legal landscape, these cases are moving at lightning speed.

Section 338: A new challenge this month

We have identified clients and plan to challenge the Canadian measures later this month. Although these measures affect fewer of you, we believe leaving this depression era claimed authority unchecked invites its use against other countries and products at any time, for any reason, and any length of time (similar to IEEPA!).

We also plan to seek class relief beyond our named plaintiffs. If these measures affect your business, please contact me about participating.

If you would like to see an overview of all of LJC’s tariff work, you can find that [HERE]