The Court of International Trade on Oct. 24 said exporter The Ancientree Co. failed to timely raise its ministerial error allegation in an antidumping review on Chinese cabinets, finding that the company didn't file the allegation until after the final results even though the error was present in the preliminary findings. The company said its U.S. price should have been adjusted to account for an alleged subsidy it received from China's Export Buyer's Credit Program that was countervailed in the companion CVD proceeding. Judge Mark Barnett held that none of the exceptions to exhaustion applied.
Court of International Trade
The United States Court of International Trade is a federal court which has national jurisdiction over civil actions regarding the customs and international trade laws of the United States. The Court was established under Article III of the Constitution by the Customs Courts Act of 1980. The Court consists of nine judges appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate and is located in New York City. The Court has jurisdiction throughout the United States and has exclusive jurisdictional authority to decide civil action pertaining to international trade against the United States or entities representing the United States.
The Court of International Trade on Oct. 25 sustained the International Trade Commission's decision on remand finding imports of Russian seamless pipe are non-negligible as part of the injury determination on the products. Judge M. Miller Baker said the commission adequately relied on data from two unnamed companies for determining the amount of in-scope imports from Germany and Mexico for purposes of the negligibility calculation. The judge added that exporter PAO TMK failed to argue before the ITC that it should have re-opened the record in handling the company's claims.
The U.S. and importer Katana Racing jointly moved to refer a customs penalty suit to court-annexed mediation before the Court of International Trade following the court's recent decision rejecting Katana Racing's renewed motion to dismiss. The parties said in light of the decision, they "believe that resolution to this litigation could potentially be reached through court-annexed mediation" (U.S. v. Katana Racing, CIT # 19-00125).
In two complaints before the Court of International Trade, Chinese pea protein exporters argued that the Commerce Department had unlawfully refused to assign separate rates to either mandatory respondent in a 2023 review, resulting in a separate rate dumping margin of 122.19% and a countervailing duty rate of 15.78% (Zhaoyuan Junbang Trading Co. v. U.S., CIT # 24-00179, -00180).
In remand results, the Commerce Department assigned four Mexican tomato exporters an adverse facts available dumping margin of 273.43% for a 1996 investigation that has been suspended for 22 years. The department, which resumed its inquiry in 2019, said that those exporters -- one of whom it couldn't even track down -- had failed to participate in verification to the best of their ability (Bioparques de Occidente v. U.S., CIT # 19-00204).
NEW YORK -- Three judges at the Court of International Trade offered tips to practitioners arguing before the court during an event at the court's judicial conference earlier this month. Judges Jennifer Choe-Groves, Claire Kelly and Gary Katzmann discussed tips for brief writing, oral argument and filing extension requests, laying out personal preferences and common areas where counsel goes wrong.
The Court of International Trade in a decision made public Oct. 23 sustained the Commerce Department's rejection of eight Section 232 steel and aluminum tariff exclusion requests from importer Seneca Foods Corp. Judge Gary Katzmann said the rejections were backed by substantial evidence after Commerce addressed various emails submitted by Seneca to show U.S. Steel's alleged inability to make tin mill products in sufficient quantity to satisfy the importer's needs. Katzmann added that Commerce's focus on "prospective evidence of steel production" is in line with the tariff's purpose and effect.
The Commerce Department failed to explain its use of an inter-quarter comparison in a differential pricing analysis but not in a margin calculation, despite being told to do so by the Court of International Trade in a remand order, exporters argued Oct. 18 (Universal Tube and Plastic Industries v. U.S., CIT # 23-00113).
Surety firm Aegis Security Insurance Co. argued on Oct. 21 that the government's action seeking to collect unpaid duties on a Chinese honey entry imported in 2002 is barred by the statute of limitations or CBP's failure to issue the bill for the duties within a reasonable amount of time. Should either of these theories fall short, Aegis said it's entitled to judgment due to CBP's "inordinate and inexcusable delay in billing Aegis" and the fact that its reinsurer went insolvent, among other confounding factors, the company said (United States v. Aegis Security Insurance Co., CIT # 22-00327).
Responding to petitioners’ pushback (see 2409270050) against new results on remand that saw the Commerce Department lower a Brazilian honey exporter’s antidumping duty rate from 83.72% to 10.52%, the U.S. said it supports the results (Apiario Diamante Comercial Exportadora v. United States, CIT # 22-00185).