The Court of International Trade should sustain the Commerce Department's decision not to conduct an on-site verification in an antidumping review, the Department of Justice told the trade court in a Dec. 17 brief. Defending the COVID-era practice in yet another case, DOJ said that the plaintiffs, led by Ellwood City Forge Company, failed to raise the issue of on-site verification to Commerce during the proceeding, and that even if the court were to consider this challenge, the off-site verification procedures were consistent with the law and necessary, given the pandemic (Ellwood City Forge Company v. U.S., CIT #21-00077).
The Commerce Department failed to justify its reliance on a third-country company's financial statements for calculating constructed value in an antidumping duty review despite a U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit opinion that called that reliance into question, the Court of International Trade said. Remanding Commerce's finding for the third time in a Dec. 22 opinion, Judge Mark Barnett said that Commerce did not adequately distinguish the review from a case in which the company's financial statements were found to be unsuitable since there was evidence of a subsidy.
The Commerce Department must reconsider whether antidumping duty respondent Power Steel paid Section 232 duties on all of its U.S. sales, the Court of International Trade said in a Dec. 23 opinion. Commerce, in an antidumping duty review, deducted Section 232 duties from all of Power Steel's U.S. sales when calculating export price. In her remand, Judge Jane Restani said sales invoices submitted by Power Steel may show it didn't pay Section 232 duties for some of its U.S. sales, so Commerce must take those into effect.
The following lawsuits were recently filed at the Court of International Trade:
Importer TR International Trading Company's imports of citric acid anhydrous is not subject to the antidumping and countervailing duty orders on citric acid from China, and CBP was wrong to liquidate the entries as such, TRI said in a Dec. 22 complaint at the Court of International Trade. Seeking to get the court to rule against CBP's decision to liquidate its entries as being from China and not from India, TRI also blasted a Customs Laboratory's role in the process (TR International Trading Company v. United States, CIT #19-00217).
The Commerce Department found that importer Star Pipe Products' 11 ductile iron flanges are not subject to the antidumping duty order on cast iron pipe fittings from China, in Dec. 22 remand results submitted to the Court of International Trade, though it did so under protest (Star Pipe Products v. United States, CIT #17-00236).
The following lawsuits were recently filed at the Court of International Trade:
The Commerce Department's use of adverse facts available in a countervailing duty review over the respondents' alleged use of China's Export Buyer's Credit Program is not backed by sufficient evidence, nonselected respondent Evolutions Flooring and Struxtur said in a Dec. 20 complaint. Filing at the Court of International Trade, the companies also contested Commerce's calculations for various inputs' less-than-adequate remuneration programs (Evolutions Flooring v. U.S., CIT #21-00591).
The Court of International Trade should reject exporter The Ancientree Cabinet Co.'s argument that the Commerce Department's calculation of financial ratios in an antidumping duty investigation is inconsistent with the agency's practice, defendant-intervenor American Kitchen Cabinet Alliance said in a Dec. 21 brief. In the reply to Ancientree's comments on Commerce's remand results, the AKCA also said Ancientree's argument against the accuracy of Commerce's financial ratio calculation is meritless because using more line items doesn't always result in more accuracy (The Ancientree Cabinet Co., Ltd. v. U.S., CIT # 20-00114).
The Commerce Department continued to find in Dec. 21 remand results submitted to the Court of International trade that certain flanges are subject to the antidumping duty order on cast iron pipe fittings from China. Holding that the flanges from Crane Resistoflex have the physical characteristics described in the scope's first paragraph, the agency again defended its position that Crane's flanges are within the scope of the order. In line with CIT's instructions, though, Commerce also dropped its arguments defending its scope decision using the AD petition, ITC report and past scope determinations (MCC Holdings dba Crane Resistoflex v. U.S., CIT #18-00248).