Tire exporter Pirelli's claim that the labelling of its board members as "independent" under Italian law requires the Commerce Department to find that the company rebutted the presumption of Chinese state control "misses the mark," the Court of International Trade ruled on June 9. Again upholding the 2017-18 administrative review of the antidumping duty order on passenger vehicle and light truck tires from China, Judge Jennifer Choe-Groves said the question for Commerce is whether Pirelli rebutted the presumption of Chinese state control, not control by another company, which is what the "independent" label measures.
Country of origin cases
The following are short summaries of recent CBP NY rulings issued by the agency's National Commodity Specialist Division in New York:
The Commerce Department erred in finding that exporter Asia Wheel Co.'s trailer wheels are within the scope of the antidumping and countervailing duty orders on steel wheels 12 to 16.5 inches in diameter from China, the company said in a June 8 complaint at the Court of International Trade (Asia Wheel Co. v. United States, CIT # 23-00096).
DOJ is looking to collect over $10 million in unpaid duties and penalties from Florida businessman Zhe "John" Liu and one of his companies, AB MA Distribution, alleging Liu and AB MA transshipped steel wire hangers through India and Thailand to avoid the payment of antidumping and other duties on steel wire hangers from China, according to a June 7 complaint at the Court of International Trade (U.S. v. Zhe "John" Liu and AB MA Distribution Corporation, CIT # 23-00116).
The Court of International Trade correctly dismissed appellant Glob Energy's claims for lack of jurisdiction in an Enforce and Protect Act case in which CBP said the company and others were transshipping Chinese xanthan gum through India to avoid antidumping duties, the U.S. said in a reply brief at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. CBP liquidated Glob's entries and the company did not appeal the liquidations "through channels that would permit the trial court to exercise jurisdiction over those entries," and as a result, the liquidations become final and unreviewable, the brief said (All One God Faith v. United States, Fed. Cir. # 23-1078).
The Court of International Trade improperly upheld CBP's incorrect classification of conduit tubing imported from Mexico as steel tubing instead of insulated fittings, Shamrock Building Materials said in its June 5 opening brief at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (Shamrock Building Materials v. U.S., Fed. Cir. # 23-1648)
A rehearing of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit's decision in PrimeSource Building Products v. U.S., upholding President Donald Trump's decision to expand Section 232 duties on "derivatives" of steel and aluminum products, is "unwarranted," the U.S. argued in a reply brief. While the petitioners, led by PrimeSource, continue to "demur," the U.S. said that the Federal Circuit's decision is "consistent with" Supreme Court and past Federal Circuit decisions, namely Transpacific Steel v. U.S., in which the court said that the president can take action beyond the procedural time limits set in the statute as long as it comports with the original duties' plan of action (PrimeSource Building Products v. United States, Fed. Cir. # 21-2066).
The Court of International Trade on June 7 upheld the Commerce Department's classification of the surrogate values for aluminum ash byproduct and rolling oil inputs in the first antidumping duty administrative review on aluminum foil from China, as well as the agency's decision to use Maersk data to calculate surrogate freight costs and its refusal to grant respondent Jiangsu Zhongji Lamination Materials Co. a double remedies adjustment for input subsidies the respondent said were countervailable.
The Court of International Trade granted a request by antidumping respondent Ellwood City Forge to reply to remand comments in an antidumping duty investigation on forged steel fluid end blocks from Germany. CIT Judge Stephen Vaden granted the May 15 request over objections by both DOJ and intervenor Edelstahl Siegen (Ellwood City Forge v. U.S., CIT # 21-00077).
The following are short summaries of recent CBP NY rulings issued by the agency's National Commodity Specialist Division in New York: