The Court of International Trade on March 20 denied U.S. company Deer Park Glycine's bid to consolidate its two cases before the trade court. One case is challenging the Commerce Department's scope ruling which excluded calcium glycinate from the scope of the antidumping and countervailing duty orders on glycine from India, Japan, Thailand and China, while the other contests Commerce's rejection of a second scope ruling request on the same product.
The Commerce Department released the final version of regulations on March 22 that will make various key changes in the administration of antidumping and countervailing duty regulations. The changes take effect April 24.
International trade attorney Kanzanira Thorington has moved from WilmerHale to King & Spalding, according to her LinkedIn page. Thorington initially joined WilmerHale in 2022 after clerking at the Court of International Trade. She joins King & Spalding in Washington as an associate.
Mexican national Abraham Cigarroa Cervantes, former finance director of waste management firm Stericycle's Latin American wing, was charged with violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act for helping bribe officials in Brazil, Mexico and Argentina, DOJ announced March 19.
Mosaic tile importer Akua Mosaics and its president, Kenneth Fleming, pleaded guilty on March 19 to conspiring to smuggle Chinese-made porcelain mosaic tiles into the U.S., the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Puerto Rico announced.
Canadian national Klaus Pflugbeil, a resident of China, was arrested March 19 for allegedly conspiring to send an unnamed U.S. electric vehicle company's trade secrets to "undercover law enforcement officers," DOJ announced. Pflugbeil allegedly conspired with Chinese national Yilong Shao to send the trade secrets. He faces a maximum of 10 years in prison if convicted.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit on March 20 granted Indian exporter Kumar Industries' motion to voluntarily dismiss its appeal of an antidumping duty case. Kumar had appealed a decision sustaining the Commerce Department's assignment of a 13.61% adverse facts available AD rate to the exporter based on its "inadequate explanations" regarding one of its partners' ownership interests in two unnamed companies (see 2311270005). The rate came as part of the first review of the AD order on glycine from India, which found that Kumar prevented Commerce from conducting a proper affiliate analysis. Kumar withdrew the appeal last month, saying it "elected not to further pursue its appeal" (see 2402260033) (Kumar Industries v. United States, Fed. Cir. # 24-1293).
The U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington dismissed a lawsuit from clothing company Smart Apparel (U.S.) that accused Nordstrom of breaching a contract when it canceled orders from Smart Apparel that were suspected of being made with forced labor (Smart Apparel (U.S.) v. Nordstrom, W.D. Wash. # 23-01754).
The Court of International Trade on March 20 upheld the International Trade Commission's decision not to cumulate Brazil's imports with the other countries included in the five-year sunset review of the antidumping and countervailing duty orders on cold-rolled steel products from Brazil, China, India, Japan, South Korea and the U.K.
Russia accepted the World Trade Organization's agreement on fisheries subsidies, the WTO announced this week. Seventy-two members have accepted the deal, which is 38 shy of the two-thirds mark needed for full adoption.