FedCircuit Blog Publishes Devin Sikes Article on Federal Circuit’s Most Important 2020 Trade Opinion

A guest article by Akin Gump international trade counsel Devin Sikes has been published by FedCircuit Blog. “The Federal Circuit’s Most Important Trade Opinion in 2020” looks at the court’s en banc decision in Sunpreme Inc. v. United States, which Sikes considers to stand “head-and-shoulders above the rest in terms of its importance and potential impact.”

Sikes begins by outlining the history of the Federal Circuit sitting en banc, then discusses Sunpreme, in which, he notes, “the Federal Circuit there addressed an issue at the increasingly important intersection of the trade remedy and customs laws: whether U.S. Customs and Border Protection possesses ‘authority to preliminarily suspend liquidation of goods based on an ambiguous antidumping or countervailing duty order, such that the suspension may be continued following a scope inquiry by’ the U.S. Department of Commerce.”

The Federal Circuit’s en banc opinion reversed an earlier panel opinion and concluded that Customs does, in fact, have said authority, Sikes writes, and then provides background into the case and the decision before concluding, “The en banc opinion in Sunpreme contains broad passages that could encourage Customs to increase its trade remedy enforcement efforts at the border. A closer review of the en banc opinion reveals, however, that Sunpreme may in fact have limited application.”

To read the full posting, click here.