The Court of International Trade dismissed importer Greentech Energy Solutions' challenge to antidumping and countervailing duties on Chinese solar cells to its Vietnamese solar cell entries for lack of subject-matter jurisdiction under Section 1581(i), the court's "residual" jurisdiction.
The Court of International Trade on June 20 sustained the International Trade Commission's five-year sunset review of the antidumping and countervailing duty orders on hot-rolled steel from Turkey. Exporter Erdemir claimed that the ITC's finding that injury would likely recur if the orders went away was invalid because later developments rendered the underlying injury determination invalid. Judge Gary Katzmann rejected this claim, saying the original injury finding "remains a final and binding agency action." The judge noted that the finality of unrevoked administrative decisions is "particularly important in the trade context" because of the need for "beacons of certainty."
A plaintiff and glycine importer filed a brief June 13 at the Court of International Trade supporting inclusion into its case’s record a prior August 2033 scope ruling application, made by the plaintiff and denied by the Commerce Department, that the plaintiff said provided important context for its overall case (Deer Park Glycine v. U.S., CIT # 24-00016).
Answering a question put forth to both parties by the Court of International Trade (see 2405230059), the U.S. said June 12 that CBP had made only a ministerial decision to liquidate a tire importer’s entries after being told to do so by the Commerce Department; and ministerial decisions, it argued, are not protestable and thus can't be litigated under 28 U.S.C. 1581(a) (Acquisition 362 v. U.S., CIT # 24-00011).
The Court of International Trade in a confidential June 17 order sustained CBP's remand results in an aluminum extrusions antidumping and countervailing duty evasion case in which the agency dropped its finding that Global Aluminum and importer Hialeah Aluminum Supply evaded the order (see 2301100033) (H&E Home v. United States, CIT Consol. # 21-00337).
The Commerce Department reconsidered on remand its model match hierarchy in the antidumping duty investigation on superabsorbent polymers (SAP) from South Korea, opting to go with the hierarchy made of centrifugal retention capacity "in 6 g/g increments" it used in the investigation's preliminary determination but not in the final decision (The Ad Hoc Coalition of American SAP Producers v. United States, CIT # 23-00010).
The Court of International Trade in a June 10 decision made public June 18 dismissed importer Greentech Energy Solutions' Section 1581(i) challenge to the assessment of antidumping and countervailing duties on its solar cells for lack of subject-matter jurisdiction. Greentech imported solar cells from Vietnam but was hit with AD/CVD on Chinese solar cells, protesting the decision. The protest was suspended once the importer brought the present case, which challenged the imposition of the AD/CVD under Section 1581(i), the court's "residual" jurisdiction. Judge Mark Barnett said remedy under Section 1581(a), as a challenge to a CBP decision, was not "manifestly inadequate" because the agency has a role in addressing the importer's claims. The court said "it appears that CBP reasonably intended to resolve Greentech’s claims during the protest proceeding," giving the importer a "bona fide opportunity to avoid liability."
The Court of International Trade on June 12 granted two companies' motions for voluntary dismissal in an antidumping and countervailing duty injury case and a customs case. One case, brought by exporter Adisseo Espana, contested the International Trade Commission's final determination finding that methionine from Spain and Japan injured the U.S. industry. The other, brought by importer AVA Industries, contested CBP's classification of multimedia players without screens. Neither company commented on the reasons for the dismissals (Adisseo Espana v. United States, CIT # 21-00562) (AVA Enterprises v. United States, CIT # 20-00123).
The Court of International Trade in a confidential decision June 13 sustained CBP's negative evasion finding regarding Dominican company Kingtom Aluminio. Enforce and Protect Act petitioner Aluminum Extrusions Fair Trade Committee brought suit, arguing that CBP's Office of Regulations and Rulings wrongly overturned an evasion finding initially made by CBP's Trade Remedy and Law Enforcement Directorate (see 2309220032). The petitioner claimed that TRLED was right to use adverse inferences against Kingtom after the company interfered with CBP's ability to verify information submitted by the company. The court hasn't given any indication of when it will make the decision public (Aluminum Extrusions Fair Trade Committee v. U.S., CIT # 22-00236).
The Court of International Trade in a confidential June 13 order sustained the Commerce Department's final results of the third administrative review of the antidumping duty order on hot-rolled steel flat products from Australia. Judge Richard Eaton gave the parties until June 20 to review the decision. AD petitioner U.S. Steel Corp. brought the case to contest Commerce's finding that exporter BlueScope Steel (AIS) didn't reimburse its U.S. affiliate for AD on the relevant imports (see 2206080032) (U.S. Steel v. U.S., CIT # 21-00528).