The Court of International Trade in a Sept. 12 opinion dismissed two counts from exporter HiSteel Co. in a case on the 2019-20 review of the antidumping duty order on heavy walled rectangular welded carbon steel pipes and tubes from South Korea. Judge Gary Katzmann dismissed as nonjusticiable the counts that challenged the Commerce Department's use of the transactions disregarded rule for HiSteel's reported costs of slitting services and its adjustment of HiSteel's reported scrap offset. He said prevailing on the two claims would not lead to a change in the dumping margin. Katzmann stayed the case, which also contests the agency's use of the Cohen's d test to root out "masked" dumping, pending resolution of Stupp Corp. v. U.S. at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.

The Court of International Trade in a Sept. 11 opinion ordered litigants in a customs case on GoPro camera cases to address whether any "material facts in dispute" are outstanding or whether the case is "ripe for summary judgment." Judge Timothy Reif said it appears there are lingering questions of fact regarding whether the camera housings feature lens coverings that obstruct the camera's use when enclosed within the housings, whether the camera is functional as a camera and if the camera's spring buttons on the housing are designed to resist pressure.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in a Sept. 7 order upheld the International Trade Commission's negative injury determination in the antidumping duty investigation on fabricated structural steel from China. Judges Jimmie Reyna, William Bryson and Tiffany Cunningham ruled against the Full Member Subgroup of the American Institute of Steel Construction in finding that the ITC did not err by declining to settle an alleged ambiguity in the scope of the domestic like product, deciding that the captive production exception is not applicable and declaring that imports of fabricated structural steel did not lead to significant price effects.

The Court of International Trade in a Sept. 6 opinion granted the U.S. request for a voluntary remand to reconsider the Commerce Department's decision to reject Section 232 steel and aluminum duty exclusions for three companies, AM/NS Calvert, California Steel Industries and Valbruna Slater Stainless. Judge M. Miller Baker said that if on the remand, the government grants the exclusions, Commerce must tell CBP to "honor the exclusions" on entries that have not finally liquidated "when those requests were originally denied." The judge also rejected the U.S. motion to dismiss the case as to the finally liquidated entries, finding that the Administrative Procedure Act allows for reliquidation of finally liquidated entries since no other statute expressly forbids this relief.

The Court of International Trade in an Aug. 21 opinion made public Sept. 4 again sent back the Commerce Department's 2018 review of the countervailing duty order on carbon and alloy steel-cut-length plate from South Korea. Judge Mark Barnett said the agency must revisit for the second time its decisions not to investigate the alleged off-peak sale of electricity for less than adequate remuneration and to not treat POSCO Plantec, an affiliate of respondent POSCO, as a cross-owned input supplier for the provision of scrap and the converter vessel.

The Court of International Trade upheld the Commerce Department's final determination in the antidumping duty investigation on raw honey from India. In his Sept. 1 opinion, Judge Mark Barnett found that Commerce adequately explained its decision to use acquisition costs as a proxy for the cost of production of raw honey and that the department was not required to further verify the costs of the beekeepers and intermediary suppliers. Arguments from the American Honey Producers Association and Sioux Honey Association that Commerce could have used alternate data sources or relied on adverse facts were "without merit," said Barnett. Rather than engaging in a "seemingly pointless verification exercise," Commerce lawfully reviewed data to ensure completeness. After filling gaps in the record with plaintiff-provided information, Commerce found the calculated acquisition costs were below those of respondents Allied Natural Products and Ambrosia Natural Products, making further verification unnecessary, he said.

The Court of International Trade in an Aug. 25 opinion sent back the Commerce Department's 2018 review of the countervailing duty order on woven ribbons from China. Judge Timothy Stanceu said the agency did not support its use of adverse facts available against exporter Yama Ribbons and Bows Co.'s alleged use of the Export Buyer's Credit Program. The judge ruled that Commerce's use of AFA was "critically flawed" since it was based on "missing" information the agency never requested from the Chinese government, adding information from the Chinese state and Yama is sufficient to refute any finding that Yama could have benefited from the program. Stanceu also remanded Commerce's finding that Yama benefited from the provision of synthetic yarn and caustic soda for less than adequate remuneration, per the agency's request, since Commerce forgot to add the document it based its finding on to the record.

The Court of International Trade in an Aug. 25 opinion upheld parts and sent back parts of the Commerce Department's 2019-20 review of the antidumping duty order on multilayered wood flooring from China. Judge Jennifer Choe-Groves remanded Commerce's pick of Brazil as the primary surrogate nation while using data for log inputs from Malaysia and the agency's decision to revise the Brazilian surrogate value data for plywood. The judge upheld Commerce's calculation of the Brazilian financial ratios and the agency's denial of exporter Jiangsu Senmao Bamboo and Wood Industry Co.'s byproduct offset.

The Court of International Trade in an Aug. 23 opinion upheld the Commerce Department's 2018-19 review of the antidumping duty order on light-walled rectangular pipe and tube from Turkey. Judge Jane Restani said Commerce legally deducted Section 232 steel and aluminum duties paid by exporter Noksel Celik Boru Sanayi from its U.S. price. Noksel argued the government, by increasing the duties solely for goods from Turkey, distinguished the duties from the other Section 232 tariffs. Restani saw "no reason to vary" from past court rulings on this point. The judge also rejected Noksel's bid for a duty drawback adjustment.

The Court of International Trade in an Aug. 22 opinion upheld CBP's remand results in an Enforce and Protect Act investigation that found importer Aspects Furniture International evaded antidumping duties on wooden bedroom furniture from China. Judge Jennifer Choe-Groves said that CBP properly relied on statements from CBP employees, which revealed that these employees saw workers in the Chinese manufacturing plants destroying documents. As a result of this conduct observed during verification, the agency levied adverse inferences against the importer. The judge said the adverse inferences and the overall evasion finding were proper given not only the document destruction but the many discrepancies found in Aspects' entry documents when compared to other evidence.