U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit Judge Evan Wallach on March 25 deferred exporter Oman Fasteners' motion to dismiss an interlocutory appeal in an antidumping duty case to the three-judge merits panel assigned to the case. The appeal came from petitioner Mid Continent Steel & Wire from the Court of International Trade's decision to impose an injunction on the Commerce Department's AD cash deposits on Oman Fasteners' steel nail imports. Oman Fasteners moved to dismiss the appeal, claiming that since the injunction is no longer active since Commerce completed the next review of the AD order, there's no live controversy (see 2401300069). The trade court granted the injunction after finding the agency abused its discretion in setting a 154.33% AD rate on the exporter for narrowly missing a filing deadline (Oman Fasteners v. U.S., Fed. Cir. # 23-1661).
Three companies challenging the International Trade Commission's injury finding on Mexican and Chinese rail couplers responded to the ITC's and the petitioner's opposition to their motion to consolidate their cases, arguing that the "result is to sandbag Plaintiffs." Dubbing the ITC's opposition to the consolidation a "highly unusual move," the three companies -- Amsted Rail Co., Wabtec Corp. and Strato -- said that the opposition is "procedurally dubious" and "entirely meritless" (Amsted Rail Ind. v. U.S., CIT # 23-00268; Wabtec Corp. v. U.S., CIT # 23-00157; Strato v. United States, CIT # 23-00158).
India and the U.S. told the World Trade Organization that they reached a solution in the U.S. dispute on India's tariff measures on certain agricultural products, the WTO announced. India and the U.S. resolved six other disputes last year (see 2306230038), the WTO noted.
The EU General Court on March 20 annulled the sanctions listing of tire maker Belshyna AAT, finding that the company wasn't a significant source of revenue for the Belarusian government.
The Court of International Trade on March 21 reassigned three cases to Judge Jane Restani.
Chinese exporter Ninestar Corp. on March 22 moved to treat its submission at the Court of International Trade in support of its motion to unseal and unredact the record as a "highly sensitive document" in its case contesting its listing on the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act Entity List. The exporter said it doesn't waive any claim that certain parts of the record "should eventually be unsealed," nor does it waive any argument that its requested documents shouldn't be treated as confidential information under the court's protective order (Ninestar Corp. v. United States, CIT # 23-00182).
The Court of International Trade on March 21 sustained the Commerce Department's remand results in a countervailing duty case in which it "changed the way it calculated ocean freight." Since no party objected to the new calculation, Judge Jane Restani sustained the remand.
The Court of International Trade in a decision made public March 21 sustained the Commerce Department's decision to rely on "other information" instead of polling the industry to calculate industry support for the antidumping duty investigation on oil country tubular goods from Argentina. But Judge Claire Kelly sent back the industry support decision due to accuracy concerns on the data Commerce relied on, including on whether "finishing operations were counted twice."
Parties to the Investment Facilitation for Development Agreement at the World Trade Organization held a meeting March 19, where they reaffirmed their goal of incorporating the deal into the WTO framework "as a most-favoured-nation-based plurilateral agreement open to all members," the WTO said. In addition, Burkina Faso announced that it supports adding the deal to the WTO framework, becoming the 125th member to do so.
The EU General Court on March 20 annuled the sanctions listing of former Formula One driver Nikita Mazepin, saying the link between Mazepin and his father -- sanctioned Russian oligarch Dmitry Mazepin -- is insufficient for the driver's listing on the Russia sanctions regime.