The U.S. told the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in a Feb. 29 reply brief that exporter Guizhou Tyre offered a "confused rendition of" the Commerce Department's separate rate analysis, equating the presumption of foreign state control with the lower standard from the agency's "substantial evidence requirement." The government said that, contrary to Guizhou Tyre's claims, it's not Commerce's duty to affirmatively show an absence of Chinese state control (Guizhou Tyre Co. v. United States, Fed. Cir. # 23-2165).
Josh Kagan, former assistant U.S. trade representative for labor affairs, has joined Kelley Drye as a special counsel in the international trade practice group, the firm announced. At USTR, Kagan worked on adopting and enforcing "internationally recognized labor rights," along with the "negotiation and implementation of labor provisions included in bilateral, regional, and multilateral trade agreements."
Commerce Department attorney Savannah Maxwell announced her promotion to senior attorney at the agency's Office of the Chief Counsel for Trade Enforcement and Compliance. Maxwell joined Commerce in 2019, serving as a staff attorney for the past four years, said her LinkedIn announcement.
Gunvor S.A., a wing of global commodities trading giant Gunvor Group, pleaded guilty on March 1 to conspiracy to violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act as part of a scheme to bribe officials of Petroecuador, the Ecuadorian state-owned oil company, and the Ecuadorian Ministry of Hydrocarbons. Gunvor was ordered to pay a $661 million criminal penalty for bribing the officials to receive contracts to buy oil products, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of New York announced.
The following lawsuit was filed recently at the Court of International Trade:
The Court of International Trade on March 1 issued a scheduling order in the lawsuit challenging the Commerce Department's pause on antidumping and countervailing duties on solar cells and modules from Southeast Asian countries found to be circumventing the AD/CVD orders on these goods from China (Auxin Solar v. United States, CIT # 23-00274).
Antidumping duty petitioners Bio-Lab, Innovative Water Care and Occidental Chemical Corp. took to the Court of International Trade on March 1 to contest the Commerce Department's surrogate country pick in the 2021-22 antidumping duty review on chlorinated isocyanurates from China (Bio-Lab v. United States, CIT # 24-00024).
The Court of International Trade on Feb. 29 sustained the Commerce Department's remand results in a case on the 2019 administrative review of the countervailing duty order on crystalline silicon photovoltaic cells from China. On remand, Commerce reversed its decision to apply subsidy rates to China's Export Buyer's Credit Program (EBCP) and a Chinese tax program for the CVD rate for exporters Risen Energy Co. and JA Solar Technology Yangzhou Co.
The Court of International Trade remanded the Commerce Department's antidumping duty investigation on superabsorbent polymers from South Korea in a March 1 confidential opinion. Petitioner Ad Hoc Coalition of American SAP Producers' motion for judgment had argued against Commerce's use of alternative characteristics of superabsorbent polymers supplied by respondent LG Chem to set control numbers (see 2307170007). The petitioner said the use of LG Chem's alternative characteristics is contrary to the agency's established practice (The Ad Hoc Coalition of American SAP Producers v. U.S., CIT # 23-00010).
The Court of International Trade on March 1 rejected importer Diamond Tools Technology's request for attorney fees in its suit challenging CBP's finding that the company evaded the antidumping duty order on diamond sawblades from China. Judge Timothy Reif said that since the case presented two issues of "first impression," the government's position was "substantially justified."