Jacob Kopnick

The Court of International Trade in an Aug. 15 decision made public Aug. 20 rejected the Commerce Department's determination that some of exporter Megaa Moda's home market sales weren't made "for consumption" in that market. Judge Thomas Aquilino said Commerce must "diligently examine the circumstances surrounding a transaction," and can't simply use a prior CIT decision to say that the agency can't use the trade patterns of a company's customers to find that the sales aren't "for consumption" in the home market.

The Court of International Trade on Aug. 21 allowed the U.S. to serve German paper exporter Koehler through its U.S. counsel in a suit seeking over $193 million in unpaid antidumping duties and interest from the company. Judge Gary Katzmann said the court's rules allow for such service and that this type of service doesn't disturb international comity or Koehler's due process rights.

The following lawsuit was recently filed at the Court of International Trade:

Comoros officially joined the World Trade Organization on Aug. 21, becoming the 165th member of the trade body after 17 years of accession talks, the WTO announced. Twenty-two other nations are negotiating their WTO access, including eight other African countries. Comoros also accepted the fisheries subsidies agreement, bringing the total number of countries that have accepted the deal to 82.

Venezuela citizen George Semerene Quintero pleaded guilty Aug. 20 to conspiring to evade U.S. sanctions on Petroleos de Venezuela (PdVSA), the Venezuelan state-owned oil company where he worked, DOJ announced.

No lawsuits were recently filed at the Court of International Trade.

Importers Wabtec Corp. and Strato filed a scathing motion for judgment on Aug. 19 contesting the International Trade Commission's affirmative injury determination on freight rail couplers from China. The companies contested the commission's decision to rule on the issue at all, seeing as the proceeding was brought just weeks after the commission found that freight rail couplers from China didn't injure the U.S. market (Wabtec Corp. v. United States, CIT # 23-00157).

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit on Aug. 20 deconsolidated two appeals on the countervailing duty investigation on Russian phosphate fertilizers, dismissing one brought by exporters Phosagro PJSC and JSC Apatit for failure to prosecute. Exporter Industrial Group Phosphorite brought the other appeal, claiming that the Commerce Department contradicted the countervailing duty statute in finding that the Russian government's provision of natural gas was de facto specific (see 2408080058) (The Mosaic Co. v. United States, Fed. Cir. #'s 24-1593, -1595).

The Court of International Trade on Aug. 20 sent back the Commerce Department's decision in an antidumping duty review not to adjust exporter Trina Solar Co.'s U.S. price by six programs countervailed in the companion countervailing duty review. Judge Claire Kelly said Commerce failed to explain its finding that the six programs weren't export contingent.

Exporter Jiangsu Senmao Bamboo and Wood Industry Co. asked the Court of International Trade to compel the Commerce Department not to make adjustments to the plywood surrogate value in the 2019-20 administrative review of the antidumping duty order on multilayered wood flooring from China. The exporter said in an Aug. 20 brief that, after two remands, the court "has been patient with Commerce," but the agency "has now demonstrated that it has no reasonable explanation for its methodology yet sticks to its unsupported position" (Jiangsu Senmao Bamboo and Wood Industry Co. v. United States, CIT Consol. # 22-00190).