Importer Challenges 'Injustice' Present in Commerce's Approach to China's EBCP
The Commerce Department unlawfully found that countervailing duty respondent The Ancientree Cabinet Co. benefited from China's Export Buyer's Credit Program in a countervailing duty review, importer Craft33 Products argued in a Jan. 9 complaint at the Court of International Trade. Craft33 said it's "one of a number of American firms caught in the crossfire of Commerce's approach to the EBCP and the wider trade war with China" (Craft33 Products v. United States, CIT # 24-00224).
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The importer said it submitted "substantial evidence showing non-use of the program" but is still being "penalized for the potential use of the EBCP by non-cooperating customers" of Ancientree. Craft33 said it already showed non-use of the program "at great expense" in the underlying CVD investigation on wooden cabinets and components from China, then fully participated again in the order's third review.
Instead of making an adjustment for the non-use, "as directed to do by this Court in a related appeal," the company said, citing the trade court's 2024 decision in Dalian Meisen Woodworking Co. v. U.S., "Commerce has unlawfully applied the statute on adverse facts available and arbitrarily imposed CVD liability on the Plaintiff," the brief said. "This action is intended to right the injustice inherent in Commerce’s treatment of Plaintiff."
Craft33 said "Commerce received uncontroverted evidence that Plaintiff never benefitted from the EBCP" but "denied an adjustment to Plaintiff’s assessment rate to account for non-use of the EBCP, rendering Plaintiff’s final CVD assessment rate inaccurate and punitive, and in direct contradiction to its treatment of Craft33 LLC, Inc. in another segment of the same proceeding."
The importer wants Commerce to remove the 6.28% CVD rate attributable to the EBCP from Ancientree's CVD margin.