Jacob Kopnick

A dual U.S.-Russian citizen was arrested Dec. 2 for trying to export two small aircraft to Russia, said DOJ, which also seized the aircraft.

The following lawsuits were recently filed at the Court of International Trade:

The Court of International Trade sustained the Commerce Department's remand results in a confidential decision on Dec. 2 on the antidumping duty investigation on oil country tubular goods from Argentina. Judge Claire Kelly gave the parties until Dec. 9 to review the confidential information in the decision. Previously, the judge remanded part of Commerce's decision to initiate the investigation, holding that the agency hadn't proven that the petition had at least 50% support from the domestic industry (see 2403220033). Kelly was concerned that some U.S. producers that both make and finish OCTGs may have accidentally been counted twice. On remand, Commerce said it found no evidence of double-counting (Tenaris Bay City, et al. v. U.S., CIT # 22-00343).

The Court of International Trade on Dec. 2 referred importer California Steel Industries' suit on its denied requests for Section 232 steel tariff exclusions to court-annexed mediation before Judge Leo Gordon. The action was previously referred to mediation, though the effort proved fruitless (California Steel Industries v. United States, CIT # 21-00015).

The Court of International Trade has personal jurisdiction over exporter Koehler Oberkirch in the government's customs penalty suit against the exporter, since it's a successor to the company that owes nearly $200 million in unpaid antidumping duties, the U.S. said. Responding to Koehler's motion to dismiss, the U.S. said Koehler doesn't question that its allegations establish that Koehler Oberkirch's "spin-off" to Koehler Paper was "done to escape paying" the duties (United States v. Koehler Oberkirch, CIT # 24-00014).

Foreign-trade zone goods become "importations" for duty drawback purposes when they are admitted into an FTZ, rather than when they are entered for consumption into the U.S., the government told the Court of International Trade on Nov. 27, urging it to dismiss a lawsuit from importer King Maker Marketing challenging the rejection of its duty drawback claims. As a result, King Maker's drawback claims are untimely, since they were brought over five years since the underlying cigarette entries were admitted into the FTZ, the government said (King Maker Marketing v. United States, CIT # 24-00134).

Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala was appointed director-general of the World Trade Organization for a second four-year term to begin on Sept. 1, the WTO announced. Okonjo-Iweala was initially elevated to the position in 2021, becoming the first woman and first African to head the global trade body. In a statement on the reappointment, the director-general said she remains "firmly committed to delivering results that matter -- results that ultimately improve the lives of people around the world. By promoting trade as a driver of economic growth and resilience, the WTO will continue to provide a collaborative platform for Members to address shared global challenges."

The EU officially filed dispute settlement consultations at the World Trade Organization with China regarding its provisional antidumping duties on EU brandy imports after announcing the move last week (see 2411250014), the WTO announced. The move opens a 60-day window for the parties to negotiate an end to the conflict, after which a dispute settlement panel can be requested.

The following lawsuits were recently filed at the Court of International Trade:

Exporter Chandan Steel Limited will appeal a decision from the Court of International Trade sustaining the 145.25% total adverse facts available rate set against the exporter in the 2018-19 review of the antidumping duty order on steel flanges from India (see 2312110043). The Commerce Department said Chandan repeatedly misreported its foreign sales information and the costs of production for those foreign sales. The court upheld the use of AFA to address these misrepresentations, noting that Chandan's responses also had additional deficiencies related to its reporting of gross unit price, quantity discounts, other discounts and duty refunds. The trade court then rejected Chandan Steel's motion for reconsideration of the decision (see 2410030013) (Chandan Steel Limited v. United States, CIT # 21-00540).