Imported house wrap, used during construction to protect the properties from water infiltration, should be properly classified as “Woven fabrics of synthetic filament yarn...” under the duty-free heading 5407 rather than as "Textile fabrics impregnated, coated, covered or laminated with plastics" under heading 5903, CBP said in a March 8 ruling.

The Court of International Trade in a May 13 opinion sustained the Commerce Department's drop of facts available after the court made the agency give antidumping duty respondent Hyundai Steel Co. the chance to explain a discrepancy between the reporting of two data fields. The petitioner, U.S. Steel Corp., argued that the results should not be sustained given Hyundai's shifting narratives on the discrepancy. Judge Richard Eaton was not persuaded, however, arguing that since Hyundai gave Commerce the information it requested, the respondent replied to the best of its ability.

The Commerce Department has failed to rebut importer M S International's position that the agency failed to get adequate industry support to initiate its antidumping and countervailing duty investigations on quartz surface products from India, the importer told the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in a May 11 reply brief. Commerce failed to take into account QSP fabricators in the domestic industry support conclusion, MSI said. In fact, the statute does not allow Commerce to label manufacturers as responsible for "production processes" that create covered merchandise and then allow the agency to exclude them from the domestic support question through a filter of "production-related activities" test, the brief said (Pokarna Engineered Stone Limited v. United States, Fed. Cir. #22-1077).

The Commerce Department properly found affiliated antidumping duty respondents Ghigi 1870 and Pasta Zara failed to cooperate to the best of their ability in reporting the U.S. payment dates for their pasta sales, the Court of International Trade ruled in a May 4 opinion made public May 13. Returning to the trade court to further explain its use of an adverse inference, Commerce said Ghigi's and Zara's errors in reporting their U.S. payment dates was due to "inattention and carelessness." Judge Richard Eaton agreed, upholding the remand.

The "text, structure, purpose, and history" of the Section 201 statute all reveal that Congress did not intend for the Court of International Trade's strict reading of the president's authority to modify safeguard duties, the U.S. argued in its May 11 opening brief at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. DOJ is fighting to reverse a ruling at CIT that found that the law only permits trade liberalizing alterations to existing safeguard measures (Solar Energy Industries Association v. United States, Fed. Cir. #22-1392).

The Court of International Trade told the Commerce Department in a May 12 opinion that if it doesn't appeal its position on China's Export Buyer's Credit Program, it must explain why the court should not provide some sort of "equitable relief" including an injunction on the continued imposition of countervailing duties on the program. Judge Jane Restani also remanded Commerce's positions relating to its land value and ocean freight benchmarks while upholding the agency's specificity finding for the subsidization of energy in China.

The Commerce Department properly relied on a questionnaire instead of conducting on-site verification due to COVID-19-related travel restrictions, the U.S. argued in a May 10 reply brief at the Court of International Trade. The plaintiffs, led by Ellwood City Forge, didn't take issue with the verification methodology until litigation and the methodology is in line with Commerce's actions in prior crises, so the questionnaire should be sustained, Commerce argued (Ellwood City Forge Company v. U.S., CIT #21-00007).

The Commerce Department will again consider ending Russia’s market economy status in antidumping duty proceedings, according to a prepublication version of a notice released May 9. After determining Russia still warranted market economy treatment in October during an antidumping duty investigation on urea ammonium nitrate solutions, Commerce is now beginning a changed circumstances review based on actions Russia has taken since its invasion of Ukraine in February.

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The Commerce Department properly found that the Chinese government and countervailing duty respondent Jangho Group failed to respond to the best of their ability on whether aluminum extrusions producers are "authorities," the Court of International Trade ruled in a May 10 opinion. As a result, Commerce properly applied adverse facts available, Judge Leo Gordon ruled. Issuing his second opinion in the case after Jangho vied for a rehearing over its unaddressed "alternative arguments," Gordon also said that Commerce properly found that the provision of glass and aluminum extrusions below cost are specific subsidies.