The Commerce Department dropped its reliance on facts available in an antidumping duty investigation after conducting remand proceedings at the Court of International Trade, finding a questionnaire it issued in lieu of a site visit during the coronavirus pandemic "satisfies the verification requirement" laid out in the statute, in remand results filed Jan. 12 at the Court of International Trade (Ellwood City Forge Company v. United States, CIT #21-00007).
The Court of International Trade on Jan. 13 sustained the Commerce Department's final determination in a countervailing duty investigation on carbon and alloy steel cut-to-length plate from South Korea, upholding the agency's finding that the Korean Electricity Corp. (KEPCO) didn't provide electricity for less than adequate remuneration (LTAR) and that the prices on the Korean Power Exchange (KPX) aren't a countervailable benefit.
The following lawsuits were recently filed at the Court of International Trade:
The Court of International Trade should sustain the Commerce Department's decision to find the all-others rate in an antidumping duty review using a weighted average of the respondent's rates rather than a simple average, antidumping duty petitioner Mid Continent Steel & Wire said in Jan. 12 comments to the trade court. In its defense of Commerce's actions, Mid Continent cited a recent U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit opinion which held that Commerce can use an adverse facts available rate when finding the separate respondents' dumping margins (see 2201100026) (Pro-Team Coil Nail Enterprise v. United States, CIT #18-00027).
The Commerce Department properly found that importer Vandewater International Inc.'s steel branch outlets are covered by the scope of the antidumping duty order on carbon steel butt-weld pipe fittings from China, the Department of Justice told the Court of International Trade in a Jan. 11 brief. Commerce's scope ruling is backed by a reading of each "(k)(2)" factor, including the physical characteristics of the steel branch outlets, the ultimate purchasers' expectations, the ultimate use of the product, and channels of trade in which the product is sold (Vandewater International Inc. v. U.S., CIT #18-00199).
The Court of International Trade should compel CBP to respond to Wheatland Tube's request for information and request for a tariff classification ruling over certain electrical conduits from Mexico, Wheatland Tube told the Court of International in a Jan. 12 complaint. Seeking a writ of mandamus in a motion filed concurrently with the complaint, Wheatland alleges that certain importers, namely Shamrock Building Materials, are mis-labelling their imports to qualify for an exception to Section 232 steel and aluminum duties (Wheatland Tube Company v. United States, CIT #22-00004).
The following lawsuits were recently filed at the Court of International Trade:
Borusan Mannesmann and Gulf Coast Express Pipeline, plaintiffs in a lawsuit seeking to apply Section 232 steel and aluminum tariff exclusions to their 19 entries, filed a notice of supplemental authority citing CBP rulings on classification of steel goods under Section 232 and Presidential Proclamation 9705 on the Section 232 tariffs to further support their arguments. The Department of Justice has moved to dismiss the case since the entries are unliquidated, precluding the Court of International Trade from having judicial review over the entries and the resulting tariff exclusion claims (Borusan Mannesmann Boru Sanayi ve Ticaret v. U.S., CIT #21-00186).
The Court of International Trade granted the Commerce Department's voluntary bid to reconsider its decision to countervail the reduction for sewerage fees program in South Korea due to its "new understanding of Korean law," the trade court said in a Jan. 11 order. Commerce requested the do-over in a remand motion in which the plaintiff, Hyundai Steel, consented to the voluntary bid while the defendant-intervenor, Nucor Tubular, took no position on the matter (Hyundai Steel Company v. U.S., CIT #21-00304).
A recent U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit ruling that the Commerce Department can calculate a separate rate respondent's dumping margin by averaging an adverse facts available rate and a de minimis rate appeared in a similar case at the Court of International Trade. In a Jan. 11 notice of supplemental authority, defendant-intervenor Mid Continent Steel & Wire said the Federal Circuit opinion "once again affirmed" that the law allows Commerce to include rates based on AFA in the calculation of a separate rate if all the mandatory respondents have a zero, de minimis or AFA rate (PrimeSource Building Products v. United States, CIT Consol. #20-03911).