Litigants sparred at a July 23 oral argument at the Court of International Trade on whether the antidumping and countervailing duty orders on steel wheels from China cover wheels shipped from Thailand with either a rim or a disc made in China. The parties disagreed on whether a prior scope ruling from the Commerce Department spoke to whether these "mixed" goods -- wheels made with either a Chinese-origin rim or disc, but not both -- are covered by the AD/CVD scope (Asia Wheel v. United States, CIT # 23-00096).
The Court of International Trade in a July 15 decision made public July 26 denied customs broker Seko Customs Brokerage's application for a temporary restraining order and motion for a preliminary injunction against its temporary suspension from the Entry Type 86 pilot and the Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism. Judge Claire Kelly said Seko's claims are "either moot or speculative" because it has been "conditionally reinstated" into the programs and has received a "detailed explanation" of its violation of the programs. The judge added that Seko's evidence refers to "speculative harm at best," and that harm to its reputation as a result of the suspensions isn't enough to warrant injunctive relief.
The Court of International Trade in a July 17 decision made public July 25 remanded parts and sustained parts of the Commerce Department's antidumping duty investigation on Dutch mushrooms. Judge M. Miller Baker said Commerce properly declined to use adverse facts available against mandatory respondent Prochamp but didn't adequately support its decision to use Germany as the comparison market. Baker said it was unclear how many of Prochamp's German sales were for consumption in Germany.
The following lawsuits were recently filed at the Court of International Trade:
The Commerce Department was right to use Brazilian, not Mexican, labor cost data when constructing a value for two Chinese exporters of stainless steel kegs, the U.S. said July 22 in response to defendant intervenors’ comments on the department’s results of a review after a third remand (New American Keg v. U.S., CIT # 20-00008).
The Commerce Department wrongly called its own decision memoranda in other, similar proceedings “new factual information” that could be, and had been, “untimely raised,” a petitioner said in a July 22 brief -- six months after that petitioner relied on them in its own administrative filings (ArcelorMittal Tubular Products v. U.S., CIT # 24-00039).
CBP refused to explain why it denied a vehicle parts importer's protest after the agency liquidated its entry at a rate 78.55 percentage points higher than it had been assigned in a past antidumping duty review, the importer said in a July 23 complaint at the Court of International Trade (Strategic Import Supply v. U.S., CIT # 24-00124).
The Court of International Trade on July 23 said CBP didn't have the authority to extend an order from the court enjoining liquidation of various entries to imports entered by Acquisition 362, doing business as Strategic Import Supply. Judge Mark Barnett dismissed the case for lack of subject-matter jurisdiction, finding that because Acquisition 362 wasn't a party to a separate case challenging the antidumping duty rate assessed on the company's goods, it wasn't subject to the court's order suspending liquidation of various tire entries.
The U.S. on July 22 moved the Court of International Trade to dismiss Byungmin Chae's challenge to CBP's rejection of his appeal of a question on the April 2018 customs broker license exam. The Nebraska resident, who ultimately fell one question shy of a passing score, previously challenged his results on the exam, including to the U.S. Supreme Court, which denied rehearing (see 2401230031) (Byungmin Chae v. U.S., CIT # 24-00086).
The Court of International Trade in a confidential July 22 opinion remanded the Commerce Department's decision to continue using adverse facts available against countervailing duty respondent The Ancientree Cabinet Co. related to its alleged receipt of benefits under China's Export Buyer's Credit Program. Judge Richard Eaton said he intends to issue a public version of the decision "in the near future," giving the parties until July 29 to review the opinion for confidential information (Dalian Meisen Woodworking Co. v. U.S., CIT # 20-00110).