As the entire U.S. trade regulatory community in acutely aware, the established system of tariffs – the very concept of how duties are measured and applied to imports into the United States – has been upended by the current Administration’s imposition of tariffs under the authority of the International Economic Emergency Powers Act (IEEPA). Several challenges to the imposition of IEEPA tariffs in recent months were promptly commenced in U.S. federal courts – including the U.S. Court of International Trade (CIT), of course, but also district courts in disparate locations such as Montana and Florida.

     So the question arises, should those cases be decided by the various courts in which they were commenced, or should they be transferred to and resolved by the CIT? This is an important issue not only as a technical procedural matter, but also because it raises questions of consistency of the judicial resolution of international economic issues and the allocation of authority among the branches of government. . . read more