A hardwood plywood importer that won its 2022 case against an affirmative evasion finding is seeking payment of its court expenses and attorney’s fees from the U.S. government. The importer on July 8 said CBP’s investigation against it had never been supported by substantial evidence and was instead the result of “bad acts” and “various violations of federal regulations” by the government (Interglobal Forest v. U.S., CIT # 22-00240).
The Court of International Trade sustained CBP's finding that Dominican exporter Kingtom Aluminio didn't evade antidumping and countervailing duty orders on aluminum extrusions from China. In a June 13 decision made public July 8, Judge Richard Eaton said Kingtom responded to all U.S. requests for information during an Enforce and Protect Act investigation, precluding the use of adverse facts available. He also said the court can't ignore "the total lack of any record evidence of any imports by Kingtom into the Dominican Republic" of aluminum extrusions made in China.
The Court of International Trade on July 10 granted in part and denied in part Chinese printer cartridge exporter Ninestar Corp.'s motion to unseal and unredact the confidential record in the company's suit against its placement on the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act Entity List. Judge Gary Katzmann kept most of the confidential information in the case from the public, save for an eight-page chunk of the confidential record, which describes the Forced Labor Enforcement Task Force's "standard operating procedures." Katzmann also kept most of the privileged information on the record away from Ninestar's counsel, with a few exceptions, on the grounds that, if revealed, the information would endanger a key informant.
No lawsuits were recently filed at the Court of International Trade.
Antidumping petitioner American Line Pipe Producers Association Trade Committee on July 8 dropped its lawsuit at the Court of International Trade on the 2021-22 administrative review of the antidumping duty order on large diameter welded pipe from Greece. The petitioner brought its suit to claim that the Commerce Department accidentally included offsets for scrap not produced during the investigation period in its calculation of an exporter's normal value (see 2402200076). Counsel for the petitioner didn't immediately respond to a request for comment (American Line Pipe Producers Association Trade Committee v. U.S., CIT # 24-00012).
The U.S. and exporters led by Risen Energy Co. agreed July 8 to dismiss a case on the 2017 review of the countervailing duty order on solar cells from China (Risen Energy Co. v. U.S., Fed. Cir. # 24-1524). The government appealed the Court of International Trade decision siding with Risen on the agency's land benchmark calculation and use of adverse facts available pertaining to China's Export Buyer's Credit Program (see 2312200026) (Risen Energy Co. v. U.S., CIT Consol. # 20-03912).
The U.S. told the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit July 8 that its decision not to appear in an antidumping and countervailing duty scope case "has no effect on the Court's standard of review." Filing a supplemental brief as an amicus at the invitation of the court, the government said its decision not to join the appeal "merely reflects its reasoned consideration not to pursue the appellate process" (Worldwide Door Components v. U.S., Fed. Cir. # 23-1532) (Columbia Aluminum Products v. U.S., Fed. Cir. # 23-1534).
The Court of International Trade in a June 13 decision made public July 8 sustained CBP's finding that Dominican exporter Kingtom Aluminio didn't evade the antidumping and countervailing duty orders on aluminum extrusions from China. Judge Richard Eaton said CBP properly decided to forego the use of adverse facts available against Kingtom because the company fully responded to all the agency's requests for information. The judge also said CBP appropriately found that Kingtom's ties to China and data discrepancies don't amount to a positive evasion finding.
The International Trade Commission told the Court of International Trade on July 3 that it fully responded to the court's instructions when it reconsidered the data it relied on when measuring in-scope imports from Germany and Mexico, despite claims to the contrary from Russian pipe exporter PAO TMK (PAO TMK v. U.S., CIT # 21-00532).
The Commerce Department was right to consider the assembly of hardwood plywood in Vietnam “minor and insignificant” when it reached an affirmative circumvention ruling for 20 Vietnamese exporters, the U.S. said July 2 in response to importers’ and exporters’ multiple motions for judgment (see 2404020054) and 2402020054) (Shelter Forest International Acquisition v. U.S., CIT Consol. # 23-00144).