The Commerce Department's simple average of the de minimis and the adverse facts available China-wide rates to derive the all-others rate in an antidumping case did not reasonably reflect the potential dumping margin of the separate rate respondents, PrimeSource Building Products argued in an Oct. 18 reply brief at the Court of International Trade. The AFA negates the presumption that mandatory respondents' rates reflect the separate rate respondents, and prior reviews show that cooperating separate respondents' rates are lower than firms subject to AFA, the brief argued (PrimeSource Building Products, Inc., et al. v. United States, CIT Consol. #20-03911).
Jacob Kopnick
Jacob Kopnick, Associate Editor, is a reporter for Trade Law Daily and its sister publications Export Compliance Daily and International Trade Today. He joined the Warren Communications News team in early 2021 covering a wide range of topics including trade-related court cases and export issues in Europe and Asia. Jacob's background is in trade policy, having spent time with both CSIS and USTR researching international trade and its complexities. Jacob is a graduate of the University of Michigan with a B.A. in Public Policy.
The Commerce Department properly applied adverse facts available when weighing antidumping respondent Bosun Tool's country of origin information using a first-in, first-out (FIFO) methodology, the Court of International Trade said in an Oct. 27 opinion. Judge Claire Kelly found that although Bosun cooperated to the best of its ability with the AD review, the use of AFA was warranted because an exporter is reasonably expected to keep documents that properly document country of origin -- something that the FIFO methodology does not do.
The following lawsuits were recently filed at the Court of International Trade:
The Commerce Department filed Oct. 25 for a voluntary remand of a Section 232 exclusion case with the consent of the counsel for the plaintiff, importer CPW America Co., at the Court of International Trade. Finding that the remand would expedite the case's resolution, Commerce said that because the case involves only one exclusion request, the agency would be able to reconsider the exclusion within the standard 90-day remand period (CPW America Co. v. United States, CIT #21-00335).
CBP misclassified imports of certain inflatable swimming pool floats and lounges, importer Swimways Corporation said in an Oct. 22 complaint at the Court of International Trade. Arguing against CBP's classification, Swimways leaned on a case it won at CIT in 2018 favoring its preferred Harmonized Tariff Schedule subheading for the pool floats (Swimways Corporation v. United States, CIT #13-00397).
The Court of International Trade on Oct. 25 reversed the dismissals of multiple tariff classification lawsuits over LED lamps after counsel for the plaintiffs argued that the events that resulted in the dismissals constituted "excusable neglect." Judge Leo Gordon ordered that the 10 dismissed cases be restored to the Customs Case Management Calendar (Target General Merchandise, Inc. v. United States, CIT #14-00283).
Multinational conglomerate Honeywell Inc. expects to pay upwards of $160 million to settle investigations by the Department of Justice and Brazilian law enforcement over alleged violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, the company said in its quarterly report filed on Oct. 22 with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The company said it continues to cooperate with DOJ and the SEC throughout the investigations, including regarding a potential resolution of the allegations. Honeywell said that it recorded a $160 million charge in its Consolidated Statement of Operations, also accruing a liability on its Consolidated Balance Sheet to account for the expected payout.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit has the jurisdiction to hear a case involving Turkey's state-owned bank Halkbank's sanctions-evasion charges, the appellate court said in an Oct. 22 opinion. Rejecting a motion to dismiss the case from Halkbank, a three-judge panel at the court said that the district court properly found that it had jurisdiction over federal criminal prosecution of Halkbank, skirting immunity conferred under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act. However, the 2nd Circuit stopped short of answering whether the FSIA universally confers immunity on foreign sovereigns in a criminal context. Even if the act gave Halkbank immunity, the panel said that Halkbank qualified for commercial activity exceptions to immunity because its sanctions evasion scheme happened in the U.S.
A host of Indian stainless steel flange exporters challenged the Commerce Department's final results of the first administrative review of the antidumping duty order on the subject flanges, in an Oct. 23 complaint at the Court of International Trade. In the complaint's two counts, the exporters are contesting Commerce's determination of the "all other" rate since it was derived using an adverse facts available rate for one of the respondents, and the agency's failure to calculate a dumping margin for respondent Chandan based on its own information instead of relying on AFA (Echjay Forgings Private Limited, et al. v. United States, CIT #21-00542).
Importer Cyber Power Systems (USA) Inc.'s telecommunications cables qualify for Section 301 China tariff exclusions and the duties it paid on the cables should be refunded, the importer argued in an Oct. 22 complaint at the Court of International Trade challenging CBP's denial of its protest, which sought to apply a particular exclusion (Cyber Power Systems (USA) Inc. v. United States, CIT #21-00200).