The Commerce Department continued to find that Vandewater International's steel branch outlets fall within the scope of the antidumping duty order on carbon steel butt-weld pipe fittings from China in July 23 remand results. Following an October 2020 Court of International Trade opinion finding that Commerce had failed to sufficiently explain its ruling (see 2010190031), the agency took another look at the scope ruling and provided a more thorough explanation of its holding. For instance, Commerce said that the physical characteristics of the steel branch outlets are similar to the characteristics of the carbon steel butt-weld pipe fittings (Vandewater International, Inc. v. United States, CIT #18-00199).
Court of International Trade activity
Greenlight Organic accused the U.S. government of invoking various "evasive tactics" in avoiding providing sufficient answers to the company's requests for admissions (RFAs) in a Court of International Trade case over the importer's alleged misclassification of imports to skirt duties. In a July 23 motion to compel the U.S. to respond to Greenlight's 116 RFAs, the importer wants the court to force the government to issue responses and overturn its objections that the requests were "incoherent and prevented a meaningful response" (United States v. Greenlight Organic, Inc. et al., CIT #17-00031).
The following lawsuits were recently filed at the Court of International Trade:
Electralloy/G.O. Carlson will appeal to the U.A. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit a Court of International Trade decision denying it the right to intervene in two Section 232 tariff exclusion challenges, it said in two July 23 notices of appeal. Judge M. Miller Baker of CIT rejected the company's intervention bid since the company doesn't have a legally protected interest in the case, a direct relationship with the litigation where it would gain or lose by the judgment, nor any demonstration that its interests will not be addressed by the government defense (see 2105260037). The U.S. Steel Corporation also tried to intervene in various Section 232 challenges, and filed its own appeal of the denied interventions on July 22 (see 2107220041). The company filed two more notices of appeal in two other Section 232 challenges on July 23.
The Commerce Department requested a voluntary remand on July 22 to reconsider exclusion requests made for Section 232 steel and aluminum tariffs. In what is becoming a trend of the agency seeking remands at the Court of International Trade in cases over tariff exclusion requests (see 2107220057), Commerce wants to establish a new and independent review of the record to weigh all the evidence in the case. In light of the JSW Steel, Inc. v. United States CIT decision, which found that Commerce's exclusion request denials were "devoid of explanation and frustrate judicial review," the agency needs to take another look at its denials, it said (Evraz Inc. NA v. United States, CIT #20-03869).
The Labor Department continued to find that a unionized group of former AT&T call center employees are not entitled to trade adjustment assistance for outsourced jobs in July 22 remand results filed in the Court of International Trade. On May 4, the court remanded the case to the agency after Judge M. Miller Baker found that Labor failed to discuss or even reference the union's evidence of why the trade adjustment case was warranted in its determination (see 2105040032) (Communications Workers of America Local 4123, on behalf of Former Employees of AT&T Services, Inc. v. United States Secretary of Labor, CIT #20-00075).
The government rejected the proposal from Section 301 plaintiffs at a U.S. Court of International Trade status conference July 23 that would have entitled importers to refunds from reliquidated customs entries from China with lists 3 and 4A tariff exposure if they prevail on the merits at the end of the litigation.
The Commerce Department and the International Trade Commission published the following Federal Register notices July 23 on AD/CV duty proceedings:
The following lawsuits were recently filed at the Court of International Trade:
United States Steel Corporation will file an interlocutory appeal of a Court of International Trade opinion denying it the right to intervene in multiple challenges to the Commerce Department's denials of Section 232 tariff exclusions, according to a July 22 notice of appeal. The domestic steel producer will appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. Judge Miller Baker of CIT rejected U.S. Steel's intervention bid (see 2105260037) since the company does not have a legally protectable interest in the case, a direct relationship with the litigation where it would gain or lose by the judgment, nor any demonstration that its interests will not be "adequately addressed by the government's participation" (California Steel Industries, Inc. v. United States, CIT #21-00015).