Parts of brake discs used in airplanes are "parts of an aircraft" and properly classified under Harmonized Tariff Schedule heading 8803, the Court of International Trade held on Jan. 30. Judge Mark Barnett said that since the parts are "used for no other purpose," require "no further processing prior" to their use in a brake disc and have "no other substantial commercial application," they should be classified as aircraft parts.
The Commerce Department must more fully explain its calculation methodology used to account for the differences in volumes of lumber purchased by exporter Les Produits Forestiers D&G and its affiliate, Les Produits Forestiers Portbec, from unaffiliated suppliers, the Court of International Trade held in a decision made public Jan. 29. Judge Mark Barnett said the U.S. failed to "clarify Commerce's decision-making" behind the calculation in the expedited countervailing duty investigation on softwood lumber products from Canada.
The Commerce Department reasonably found that holding company Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy S.A. is an "exporter or producer" under its regulations in an antidumping duty investigation on wind towers from Spain, the Court of International Trade held on Jan. 28. Judge Timothy Stanceu said the agency appropriately considered the evidence and rejected petitioner Wind Tower Trade Coalition's position that Siemens Gamesa didn't have a role in the production of wind towers and, thus, didn't have to rescind the investigation on the company.
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After the Trump administration released a memo outlining the scope of trade action to be taken during his term, one thing became clear, according to a variety of trade attorneys: antidumping duty and countervailing duty rates are about to soar.
The Court of International Trade sustained the Commerce Department's decision on remand to drop the use of total adverse facts available against exporter Apiario Diamante Comercial Exportadora, with Apiario Diamante Producao e Comercial de Mel known as Supermel, in the antidumping duty investigation on raw honey from Brazil. The result saw Supermel's AD rate drop from 83.72% to 10.52%.
Court of International Trade Judge Timothy Reif said in a Jan. 27 opinion that the Commerce Department had abused its discretion by denying steel exporter Hoa Phat Steel Pipe Co.’s submission after it was late, but still filed before the opening of the following business day.
Colombian shopping bag exporter Ditar and domestic petitioner Coalition for Fair Trade in Shopping Bags each filed a motion for judgment in their respective cases challenging the results of the same antidumping duty investigation. Ditar, a mandatory respondent, argued the Commerce Department had been required to make a level-of-trade adjustment between its U.S. and home markets, while the Coalition alleged Ditar’s records were unreliable (Ditar v. United States, CIT # 24-00130; Coalition for Fair Trade in Shopping Bags v. United States, CIT # 24-00157).
The Commerce Department "effectuated Congress' intent" when it found that U.S. seafood seller Luscious Seafood is not a bona fide wholesaler of the domestic like product, petitioner Catfish Farmers of America said in a reply brief at the Court of International Trade. The petitioner said that while Congress didn't define the term "wholesaler" in the antidumping laws, the "overall text, structure, and purpose of the law do not reflect any intention to allow parties with merely tangential or fugitive wholesaling activity to force Commerce into action -- particularly for potentially manipulative ends" (Luscious Seafood v. United States, CIT # 24-00069).
The Commerce Department decided not to countervail benefits received by countervailing duty respondent Kaptan Demir from Turkey's Banking and Insurance and Transaction Tax exemptions on remand at the Court of International Trade. The agency said that while there was not enough information to find that the exemptions were de facto specific, it faulted its lack of time on remand to gather sufficient information (Kaptan Demir Celik Endustrisi ve Ticaret v. United States, CIT # 23-00131).