The Court of International Trade sustained CBP's finding that Dominican exporter Kingtom Aluminio didn't evade antidumping and countervailing duty orders on aluminum extrusions from China. In a June 13 decision made public July 8, Judge Richard Eaton said Kingtom responded to all U.S. requests for information during an Enforce and Protect Act investigation, precluding the use of adverse facts available. He also said the court can't ignore "the total lack of any record evidence of any imports by Kingtom into the Dominican Republic" of aluminum extrusions made in China.
The World Trade Organization released its latest Trade Monitoring Update July 8, showing that WTO members have introduced more trade-facilitating measures than trade-restricting ones on goods from mid-October to mid-May. The update also shows a "rapid increase in industrial policy subsidies," especially in areas related to climate change and national security, the WTO said.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit said that it will "proceed as scheduled" amid "extensive street closures and traffic restrictions near the National Courts Building" the week of July 8. Access to the courthouse will be available from only H Street NW, the court said, encouraging counsel to budget additional travel time. Numerous Washington streets are seeing closures and/or restrictions this week due to the NATO Summit in the city.
DOJ reached a settlement in a civil forfeiture case against a Los Angeles mansion belonging to a former Armenian government official's family. The mansion will be forfeited to the U.S., which will then sell the property, retaining 85% of the proceeds. The remaining funds will be sent to the sons of the former official, Gagik Khachatryan, and a corporation that the sons own. The forfeiture is part of the resolution of a foreign corruption scheme prosecuted by DOJ.
No lawsuits were recently filed at the Court of International Trade.
Antidumping petitioner American Line Pipe Producers Association Trade Committee on July 8 dropped its lawsuit at the Court of International Trade on the 2021-22 administrative review of the antidumping duty order on large diameter welded pipe from Greece. The petitioner brought its suit to claim that the Commerce Department accidentally included offsets for scrap not produced during the investigation period in its calculation of an exporter's normal value (see 2402200076). Counsel for the petitioner didn't immediately respond to a request for comment (American Line Pipe Producers Association Trade Committee v. U.S., CIT # 24-00012).
The U.S. and exporters led by Risen Energy Co. agreed July 8 to dismiss a case on the 2017 review of the countervailing duty order on solar cells from China (Risen Energy Co. v. U.S., Fed. Cir. # 24-1524). The government appealed the Court of International Trade decision siding with Risen on the agency's land benchmark calculation and use of adverse facts available pertaining to China's Export Buyer's Credit Program (see 2312200026) (Risen Energy Co. v. U.S., CIT Consol. # 20-03912).
The U.S. told the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit July 8 that its decision not to appear in an antidumping and countervailing duty scope case "has no effect on the Court's standard of review." Filing a supplemental brief as an amicus at the invitation of the court, the government said its decision not to join the appeal "merely reflects its reasoned consideration not to pursue the appellate process" (Worldwide Door Components v. U.S., Fed. Cir. # 23-1532) (Columbia Aluminum Products v. U.S., Fed. Cir. # 23-1534).
The International Trade Commission told the Court of International Trade on July 3 that it fully responded to the court's instructions when it reconsidered the data it relied on when measuring in-scope imports from Germany and Mexico, despite claims to the contrary from Russian pipe exporter PAO TMK (PAO TMK v. U.S., CIT # 21-00532).
The U.S. on July 1 claimed that the provision of customs law establishing deemed liquidation except where the determinations of admissibility are vested in an agency other than CBP "broadly applies" to all agencies that can make admissibility determinations and not just those capable of carrying them out (Inspired Ventures v. U.S., CIT # 24-00062).