A number of Canadian softwood lumber exporters, on one side of a case, and, on the other, defendant-intervenors led by a domestic trade group, filed in total three briefs supporting their respective motions for judgment (see 2404110063) in a case involving the Commerce Department’s alleged misapplication of the transactions disregarded test to increase the costs of a review’s mandatory respondent (Government of Canada v. United States, CIT Consol. # 23-00187).
Court of International Trade activity
A petitioner, a domestic lumber trade group, pushed back against the Commerce Department's ultimate post-remand finding that subsidies received by unaffiliated lumber suppliers were applicable to a few expedited Canadian lumber review respondents, but that those subsidies had no effect on the respondents’ rates. It again alleged that the department had made a “mathematical error” (Committee Overseeing Action for Lumber International Trade Investigations or Negotiations v. U.S., CIT # 19-00122).
The Commerce Department under protest on Oct. 10 reversed its finding that exporter Saha Thai Steel Pipe Public Co. and one of its customers, BNK Steel Co., are affiliated, on remand at the Court of International Trade. The decision lowered Saha Thai's antidumping duty rate in the 2020-21 review of the AD order on circular welded carbon steel pipes and tubes from Thailand, from 14.74% to 1.65% (Saha Thai Steel Pipe Public Co. v. United States, CIT # 21-00627).
The Court of International Trade on Oct. 10 sent back the Commerce Department's use of partial adverse facts available against exporter Nippon Steel for its failure to submit sales data from some of its U.S. affiliates in the third review of the antidumping duty order on hot-rolled steel flat products from Japan. Judge Stephen Vaden said Commerce failed to grapple with Nippon Steel's limitations under Japanese law to collect this data from its affiliates.
A U.S. steel producer joined the government (see 2409170033) Oct. 9 in defending a Commerce Department finding that the South Korean government’s provision of electricity at lower prices during off-peak hours was de facto specific to an exporter and that South Korea’s cap-and-trade program was countervailable (POSCO v. United States, CIT # 24-00006).
The Court of International Trade on Oct. 9 denied importer Retractable Technologies' motion to quash a prehearing deposition subpoena from the U.S. in the company's suit against the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative's 100% Section 301 rate hike on needles and syringes (Retractable Technologies v. U.S., CIT # 24-00185).
The Court of International Trade on Oct. 10 denied German paper exporter Koehler Oberkirch GmbH's bid to immediately appeal a prior decision from the court allowing service to be effected on the company's U.S. counsel. Judge Gary Katzmann said that an interlocutory appeal wouldn't "materially advance" and would actually delay the "ultimate termination of the litigation."
The Court of International Trade on Oct. 11 sustained the Commerce Department's remand results in a case on the antidumping duty investigation on polyester textured yarn from Indonesia, dropping the AD rate for respondent PT. Asia Pacific Fibers TBK from 26.07% to 9.2%. On remand, Commerce allowed Asia Pacific to fix errors in its submissions. The respondent provided requested translations and a "narrative explanation of its reporting methodologies," allowing the agency to reconcile the company's sales and cost reporting. No party contested the result.
The Court of International Trade on Oct. 10 rejected the Commerce Department's use of partial adverse facts available against exporter Nippon Steel for failing to submit certain U.S. sales data from an affiliated buyer in the third review of the antidumping duty order on hot-rolled steel flat products from Japan. Judge Stephen Vaden said Commerce failed to grapple with the company's claim that Japanese law barred it from obtaining the information, undercutting the notion that Nippon Steel failed to act to the best of its ability in responding to the agency's requests. Vaden also sustained Commerce's deduction of Section 232 duties from Nippon Steel's U.S. price in the third, fourth and fifth reviews of the AD order, noting that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit has already sustained the agency's ability to take such action.
The Court of International Trade's CM/ECF system will undergo maintenance on Oct. 26 8 a.m. to 12 p.m. EDT, the court announced. The CM/ECF system will be unavailable during this time.