3D importer Quantified Operations on Jan. 5 asked the Court of International Trade to compel discovery in its classification case. The importer said the government was trying to hide behind the deliberative process privilege without meeting the procedural requirements for it (Quantified Operations Limited v. U.S., CIT Consol. # 22-00178).
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit held Jan. 7 that the Commerce Department can't significantly depart from accuracy when setting adverse facts available rates without showing a "particularly strong need to deter noncompliance." Rejecting the department's single-sentence justification for a 154.33% AFA AD rate, it said Commerce was required to look to record evidence and evaluate "common factors" such as intent, recidivism or unreasonable carelessness when setting an unusually high rate.
The Court of International Trade will be closed Jan. 9 in observance of the national day of mourning for the late President Jimmy Carter, the court announced. The day will be considered a "legal holiday" for the purposes of computing time and motions to enlarge time under the court's Rule 6.
The following lawsuits were recently filed at the Court of International Trade:
After a remand, the Commerce Department continued to find the downstream products of Mexican pipe exporter Maquilacero S.A. de C.V. and auto-parts manufacturer Tecnicas de Fluidos S.A. de C.V. (TEFLU) were covered by an antidumping duty order on light-walled rectangular pipe and tube (Maquilacero S.A. de C.V. v. U.S., CIT Consol. # 23-00091).
The International Trade Commission erred when it found that aluminum extrusion exports from 14 nations didn't injure the U.S. industry, AD/CVD petitioners the U.S. Aluminum Extruders Coalition and the United Steelworkers argued in a Jan. 3 complaint at the Court of International Trade. The seven-count complaint challenged, among other things, the commission's conclusions that the extrusions didn't undersell the domestic like product nor have "significant adverse price effects" (U.S. Aluminum Extruders Coalition v. United States, CIT # 25-00001)
Antidumping petitioner Coalition of American Manufacturers of Mobile Access Equipment took to the Court of International Trade on Jan. 3 to challenge the Commerce Department's surrogate value picks in the 2022-23 review of the antidumping duty order on mobile access equipment from China. The petitioner filed a 12-count complaint to contest 12 different surrogate data picks (Coalition of American Manufacturers of Mobile Access Equipment v. United States, CIT # 24-00219).
Court of International Trade Judge Claire Kelly on Jan. 2 granted a motion to consolidate two cases challenging the Commerce Department’s refusal to grant several Chinese pea protein exporters separate rates in an antidumping duty investigation (Yantai Oriental Protein Tech Co. v. United States, CIT # 24-00181, -00179).
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit on Dec. 31 denied Canadian lumber exporter J.D. Irving's bid for a full court rehearing of a three-judge panel's rejection of the company's attempt to challenge the denial of an antidumping duty cash deposit rate under Section 1581(i) (J.D. Irving v. United States, Fed. Cir. # 23-1652).
The Court of International Trade sent back the Commerce Department's determination in a covered merchandise referral to exclude certain carbon steel butt-weld pipe fittings made from Chinese fittings that underwent production in Vietnam from the scope of the antidumping duty order on carbon steel butt-weld pipe fittings from China. Judge Jennifer Choe-Groves remanded Commerce's consideration of various (k)(1) sources, including a circumvention finding that took a contrary position.