Exporters BYD (H.K.), Canadian Solar International and Canadian Solar Manufacturing (Thailand) will appeal a pair of May Court of International Trade decisions finding that various exporters circumvented the antidumping duty and countervailing duty orders on Chinese solar cells by sending their products through Thailand and Cambodia (see 2505160045). In both decisions, the trade court upheld Commerce's decision to put special emphasis on the amount of research and development investment the companies put into their Thai facilities to show that the companies' processes in the country were "minor or insignificant."
The Court of International Trade's recent decision in Worldwide Door Components v. U.S. regarding a scope decision on aluminum extrusions "has no bearing" on the court's consideration of a pair of scope cases regarding freight rail couplers, petitioner the Coalition of Freight Rail Couplers said. Responding to importer Wabtec's notice of supplemental authority regarding the Worldwide decision, the petitioner said the scope of the antidumping duty and countervailing duty orders on aluminum extrusions is "distinct" from the scope of the AD/CVD orders on freight couplers at issue in the present case (Wabtec Corp. v. United States, CIT #'s 23-00160, -00161).
CBP unlawfully excluded importer Maxeon Americas' solar module entries on the basis that the goods were made, in whole or in part, in Xinjiang or by a company on the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act Entity List, Maxeon argued in a July 15 complaint at the Court of International Trade. The importer said the agency ignored "substantial and persuasive" evidence showing the company's Max6 model solar modules weren't made in Xinjiang or by a listed company, adding that the agency appears to be using an "unreasonably difficult standard" in reviewing whether goods are made in Xinjiang (Maxeon Americas v. United States, CIT # 25-00074).
An Iranian national and U.S. resident was arrested for allegedly exporting electronics used in railway signaling and telecommunications systems in violation of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act and the Iranian Transactions and Sanctions Regulations, DOJ announced last week. Bahram Ostovari is charged with one count of conspiring to violate the IEEPA and three counts of violating the IEEPA, facing a maximum prison sentence of 20 years for each count.
Exporter Trina Solar Science & Technology will appeal a May Court of International Trade decision in which the court held that the Commerce Department properly found that exporters Canadian Solar and Trina Solar circumvented the antidumping duty and countervailing duty orders on Chinese solar cells by sending their products through Thailand (see 2505160045). The trade court sustained the agency's decision to place special emphasis on the amount of research and development investment put into the companies' Thai facilities to show that the companies' processes in the country were "minor or insignificant." Trina will take the case to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (Trina Solar Science & Technology (Thailand) v. United States, CIT # 23-00227).
The U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia on July 11 upheld Chinese lidar company Hesai Technology's designation as a "Chinese military company." Judge Paul Friedman waded through issues of statutory interpretation regarding the Pentagon's definition of the phrase "military-civil fusion contributor to the Chinese defense industrial base" and DOD's evidentiary basis for finding that this phrase describes Hesai (Hesai Technology v. U.S. Dep't of Def., D.D.C. # 24-01381).
The Court of International Trade on July 10 heard oral argument in importer Detroit Axle's case against President Donald Trump's decision to end the de minimis exemption for Chinese goods. Judges Gary Katzmann, Timothy Reif and Jane Restani pressed counsel for both the U.S. and the importer on whether the International Emergency Economic Powers Act enables the president to take such action, given the specific language at play in both IEEPA and 19 U.S.C. 1321, the de minimis statute (Axle of Dearborn, d/b/a Detroit Axle v. Dep't of Commerce, CIT # 25-00091).
The Court of International Trade's recent "dictum" on whether the Tariff Act of 1930 lets the Commerce Department impose antidumping duties and countervailing duties on an upstream product that's incorporated into a downstream product imported into the U.S. isn't relevant for adjudication of a pair of separate AD/CVD scope cases, the U.S. said (Wabtec Corporation v. U.S., CIT #s 23-00160, -00161).
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit on July 10 denied exporter Carbon Activated's bid for a panel rehearing of its antidumping duty case on the Commerce Department's selection of the surrogate value for carbonized material in the 2018-19 review of the AD order on Chinese activated carbon. Judges Richard Taranto, Alvin Schall and Raymond Chen denied the request (Carbon Activated Tianjin v. United States, Fed. Cir. # 23-2135).
The U.S. opposed exporter Camel Group's motion to unredact part of the record in the company's case against its placement on the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act Entity List, arguing on July 10 that disclosure of information deemed confidential "would substantially harm the Government's" law enforcement efforts in applying the UFLPA. The government told the Court of International Trade it has a "strong interest in protecting the law enforcement sensitive information," while Camel has "no compelling argument as to why disclosure to the public, or to Camel, as opposed to confidential disclosure, is necessary" (Camel Group Co. v. United States, CIT # 25-00022).