Canada opened a dispute at the World Trade Organization on March 5 to challenge the new U.S.-imposed 25% tariff on all non-energy goods and 10% tariff on energy goods from Canada, claiming that the measure violates the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade "as well as the WTO's Trade Facilitation Agreement." Canada said that the U.S. measures "appear to be inconsistent with the United States' obligations" under GATT and TFA provisions.
Powdered sugar processed and packaged in Mexico using U.S.-origin refined sugar imported by Batory Foods and Rafi Industries is not subject to the agreements suspending antidumping and countervailing duties on sugar from Mexico (A-201-845/C-201-846), the Commerce Department announced in a Feb. 28 scope ruling. The department also recommended imposing a certification requirement for the imported sugar.
Commerce should show broad deference to the "intent of the petitioner" when assessing scope rulings, a domestic petitioner argued to the Court of International Trade on March 3. The petitioner was supporting the U.S. in cases involving antidumping and countervailing duty investigations on freight rail couplers, saying that the case’s plaintiff, an exporter, had incorrectly argued that its goods were beyond the scope of the investigation due to a substantial transformation (Wabtec Corporation v. U.S., CIT #s 23-00160, -00161).
The Commerce Department has terminated its antidumping duty investigation on glass wine bottles from Chile based on the petitioner's withdrawal of its petition.