The European Commission and Canada on April 26 proposed new rules to help small and medium-sized enterprises take advantage of the investment dispute resolution mechanism under the EU-Canada Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement, the commission's Directorate-General for Trade announced.
Chinese nationals Han Li and Lin Chen were charged for their role in a conspiracy to illegally export controlled U.S. technology to Chinese end users, in violation of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act and Export Administration Regulations, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of California announced.
The U.S. and petitioner Nucor Corp. defended the Commerce Department's use of partial adverse facts available against exporter Salzgitter Flachstahl in the antidumping duty investigation on carbon and alloy steel cut-to-length plate from Germany, in a pair of reply briefs at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. The government said the steel company said Commerce properly identified a gap in the record stemming from Salzgitter's failure to submit manufacturer information for 28,000 of its sales from an affiliated reseller, Salzgitter Mannesmann Stahlhandel (AG der Dillinger Huttenwerke v. U.S., Fed. Cir. # 24-1219).
German exporter thyssenkrupp Rasselstein filed a notice of dismissal on April 26 at the Court of International Trade in its case contesting the Commerce Department's final determination in the antidumping duty investigation on tin mill products from Germany. The dismissal came before the company filed its complaint in the suit, only filing the summons on March 29. Counsel for the exporter didn't respond to a request for comment (thyssenkrupp Rasselstein v. United States, CIT # 24-00067).
Importer Netgear filed a complaint at the Court of International Trade on April 26 seeking reliquidation of re-imported LTE routers under duty-free Harmonized Tariff Schedule subheading 9802.00.50. The company is seeking refunds of any overpayments of Merchandise Processing Fees and Harbor Maintenance Fees, along with a refund of Section 301 duties (Netgear v. United States, CIT # 22-00129).
Members of the World Trade Organization's Committee on Anti-Dumping Practices on April 24 met to review the latest notifications of "new, amended or previously reviewed anti-dumping laws and regulations" and actions, the WTO said. New legislation notices came in from "the Kyrgyz Republic, Rwanda, the United Kingdom and the United States," while the committee continued to review the notifications from Cameroon, the EU, Ghana, Liberia and Saint Kitts and Nevis. The committee was notified in semi-annual reports covering the period July 1 - Dec. 31, 2023, that 41 members took new AD actions and 14 reported no new actions.
Thai exporter Sahamitr Pressure Container is challenging the Commerce Department's decision to reclassify certain cylinders as outside the scope of the antidumping duty order on steel propane cylinders from Thailand as part of its model match methodology. In its complaint, filed at the Court of International Trade April 24, Sahamitr also challenged Commerce's use of the Cohen's d test to detect "masked" dumping in the 2021-22 review of the AD order (Sahamitr Pressure Container v. U.S., CIT # 24-00064).
Antidumping petitioner SSAB Enterprises argued that the Commerce Department was justified in using partial adverse facts available against respondent Salzgitter Flachstahl due to the company's failure to cooperate to the best of its ability. While Salzgitter said it couldn't submit certain requested information because one of its affiliated resellers, Salzgitter Mannesmann Stahlhandel, didn't keep that information, SSAB said that "Salzgitter cannot rely on" Salzgitter Mannesmann's "sloppy recordkeeping as a valid excuse to justify its failure to provide Commerce with the requested manufacturer information" (AG der Dillinger Huttenwerke v. United States, Fed. Cir. # 24-1219).
The statute on deemed liquidation for drawback claims "doesn't make sense as written," Judge Jane Restani said during April 18 oral arguments at the Court of International Trade. She said that both importer Performance Additives and the government are "adding terms to the statutes that aren't there," but said she understands because "none of this can work if we just read the words that are there" (Performance Additives v. United States, CIT # 22-00044).
South Africa on April 24 requested dispute consultations with the EU at the World Trade Organization concerning the bloc's regime on imports of South African citrus fruit, the WTO announced.