Congress gave the Commerce Department wide latitude to go after "masked" dumping, the Court of International Trade said in a decision made public Nov. 15 that upheld the agency's differential pricing analysis.
Court of International Trade activity
The Court of International Trade in a decision made public Nov. 15 sustained parts and remanded parts of the antidumping duty investigation on lemon juice from Brazil. Judge Claire Kelly rejected the Commerce Department's definition of "partners" in sending back the agency's finding that exporter Louis Dreyfus Co. Sucos and an unnamed supplier aren't affiliated. Conducting an analysis of the affiliation statute under Loper Bright, Kelly said Congress didn't expressly give Commerce the authority to define the term "partners." The judge then defined the term as "a for profit cooperative endeavor in which parties share in risk and reward." The judge remanded the issue for Commerce to apply this definition in its affiliation analysis between Louis Dreyfus Co. and the supplier.
The U.S. corrected a representation it made during Nov. 11 oral argument about whether petitioner Bonney Forge could have attended an on-site verification of respondent Shakti Forge Industries during an antidumping duty investigation on forged steel fittings from India (Bonney Forge Corporation v. U.S., CIT #20-03837).
The Court of International Trade sustained 162 requests for Section 232 steel tariff exclusions submitted by importer California Steel Industries in a confidential decision, though the court remanded 31 separate exclusion denials. Judge M. Miller Baker said that should the Commerce Department grant any of the 31 remanded exclusion requests, it shall tell CBP "to honor them" by extending the exclusions to "otherwise-eligible entries" that had not finally liquidated by the fifth business day after the original exclusion request denials (California Steel Industries v. United States, CIT # 21-00015).
Defending its motion for judgment (see 2405300059), a paint nozzle parts importer again said Nov. 13 that its products are “fabricated heat sinks made from aluminum extrusions” and that they do have specified thermal performance requirements (Wagner Spray Tech Corp. v. U.S., CIT # 23-00241).
The Court of International Trade in a decision made public Nov. 15 held that Congress meant to give the Commerce Department wide latitude to correct for "masked" dumping, sustaining the agency's differential pricing analysis. Judge Claire Kelly previously rejected exporter Garg Tube's challenge to the differential pricing analysis on the grounds that the company failed to exhaust its administrative remedies. In response to Garg's claim that the end of judicial deference to agencies' interpretations of federal statutes eliminated the need for exhaustion here, Kelly said this claim must fail because a statutory interpretation of the applicable statute doesn't "materially alter the result in this case." Kelly also sustained Commerce's decision on remand to drop its use of adverse facts available against Garg Tube.
Nvidia CMP 170 HX graphics processing units should be excluded from Section 301 tariffs on China, importer Atlas Power argued in a Nov. 13 motion for judgment at the Court of International Trade (Atlas Power v. United States, CIT # 23-00084).
The following lawsuit was recently filed at the Court of International Trade:
The U.S. and domestic producers of superabsorbent polymers Nov. 12 both supported the Commerce Department's redetermination on remand that switched back to its preliminary determination’s method of model matching in a highly technical case (see 2406170034) (The Ad Hoc Coalition of American SAP Producers v. United States, CIT # 23-00010).
A U.S. mattress importer on Nov. 12 opposed the government’s motion to dismiss its challenge to the International Trade Commission’s critical circumstances determination on mattresses from Burma, saying that its questionnaire response in the ITC’s investigation was enough to give it standing at the Court of International Trade (Pay Less Here v. U.S., CIT # 24-00152).