The Canadian government and a group of eight Canadian lumber exporters sought to file an amici curiae brief in a case at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit on the Commerce Department's use of the Cohen's d test to detect "masked" dumping. Filing unopposed for leave to file the briefs on May 28, the parties said they can provide "unique and robust explanations of the Cohen's d denominator, a full understanding of which will" aid the court to settle the issues in the case (Mid Continent Steel & Wire v. United States, Fed. Cir. # 24-1556).
Court of Federal Appeals Trade activity
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit on May 28 issued its mandate in a case on whether Australian antidumping duty respondent BlueScope Steel (AIS) reimbursed its affiliated U.S. importer, BlueScope Steel Americas, for AD. In the decision, the appellate court said AIS didn't reimburse its affiliate, ruling it would have been "unreasonable" for the exporter to include the AD in the price charged to the importer because the exporter itself wasn't responsible for the duties (see 2404040020). The case concerned the 2017-18 review of the AD order on hot-rolled steel flat products from Australia (U.S. Steel Corp. v. U.S., Fed. Cir. # 22-2078).
The Court of International Trade was wrong to rule that imported calendar planners should be classified by CBP as diaries instead of calendars, the importer said in its opening brief to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit on May 24 (Blue Sky The Color of Imagination v. U.S., Fed. Cir. # 24-1710).
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit said on May 20 that the Court of International Trade was wrong to impose a 50% threshold in determining whether demand for a processed agricultural product is "substantially dependent" on its raw upstream iteration for purposes of assigning countervailing duties.
The Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit on May 20 ruled that the Court of International Trade was wrong to establish a 50% threshold when determining whether demand for an agricultural product is "substantially dependent" on its raw upstream iteration for purposes of assigning countervailing duties. Judges Sharon Prost, William Bryson and Leonard Stark said the Commerce Department has significant leeway in determining whether substantial dependence exists. In the present case, which assessed subsidies to Spanish raw olive growers, the court affirmed Commerce's finding of substantial dependence, finding that errors in the agency's analysis of dependence were nonprejudicial to the affected Spanish ripe olive exporters.
Chinese truck and bus tire exporters subject to a nearly 5-year-old administrative review that was delayed by an ongoing court challenge should still have kept their records while the litigation played out (see 2402060054), Judge Mark Barnett said during oral argument in the case. During the review, the Commerce Department removed separate rate status for four exporters who refused to serve as mandatory respondents because they said they hadn’t kept the necessary records (YC Rubber Co. (North America) v. U.S., CIT # 19-00069).
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit on May 15 said the scope of the antidumping duty order on circular welded carbon steel pipes and tubes from Thailand unambiguously includes dual-stenciled pipe, reversing the Court of International Trade's decision.
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The U.S. told the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit that the principle of stare decisis requires the appellate court to sustain the legality of the Commerce Department's non-market economy policy (Jilin Forest Industry Jinqiao Flooring Group Co. v. United States, Fed. Cir. # 23-2245).
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit on May 15 reversed a Court of International Trade decision sustaining the exclusion of dual-stenciled pipe from the antidumping duty order on circular welded carbon steel pipes and tubes from Thailand. The AD order's scope language included standard pipe but excluded line pipe, and exporter Saha Thai Steel Pipe Public Co.'s dual-stenciled pipes fit the industry specifications for both line and standard pipe. CAFC Judges Alan Lourie and Jimmie Reyna said that meeting an additional specification doesn't "strip away the qualification of these pipes as standard pipes." The majority added that the (k)(1) materials support the inclusion of dual-stenciled pipes under the order's scope. Judge Raymond Chen dissented, finding that the plain scope language is ambiguous as to whether it includes dual-stenciled pipe, and saying that the (k)(1) factors support exclusion of the dual-stenciled pipe.