The Commerce Department failed to explain how a particular market situation existed for hot-rolled coil in the Indian market such that it affected antidumping duty respondents' costs of production, the Court of International Trade said in a March 11 opinion made public March 21. Judge Claire Kelly said that while Commerce identified market phenomena that could have distorted the price of HRC, the agency failed to show how the collective impact of these phenomena is unique to the Indian market and constitutes a PMS. Kelly also remanded Commerce's regression analysis used to adjust for the PMS, should the agency find that one still exists.
The Commerce Department properly picked an adverse facts available rate based on the financial data of one of the antidumping duty petitioner's parent companies in an AD investigation, the Court of International Trade said in a March 21 decision. Senior Judge Thomas Aquilino ruled that the arguments from plaintiffs Globe Specialty Metals and Mississippi Silicon fall flat since they are based mainly on "their interpretation of outdated agency practices." The agency was not compelled to pick the highest AFA rate out there, the judge said.
The following lawsuits were recently filed at the Court of International Trade:
U.S. steel company Nucor Corporation will appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit a January Court of International Trade decision that held that no benefit was conferred on South Korean steel companies through the provision of electricity, according to the March 22 notice of appeal. The case has previously been to the Federal Circuit, where the appellate court remanded it for unlawfully relying on price discrimination instead of a thorough fair-market principles evaluation (see 2202020035). The trade court said that the Commerce Department has now addressed the Federal Circuit's concerns (POSCO v. United States, CIT #16-00225).
Processes performed on steel bars do not constitute "further working" for the purposes of tariff classification, meaning the steel bars are still classifiable in a tariff subheading subject to Section 232 tariffs, DOJ said in a brief filed March 21 at the Court of International Trade. Arguing in favor of its cross-motion for judgment, DOJ said that imported grinding rods from China are still classifiable under Harmonized Tariff Schedule subheading 7228.40.00 as “Other bars and rods of other alloy steel … not further worked than forged." ME Global is seeking reclassification of the rods under the residual subheading 7326.11.00 as "other articles of iron or steel,” which are not subject to Section 232 tariffs (ME Global Inc. v. United States, CIT #19-00179).
DOJ on March 18 asked the Court of International Trade to step in and order an importer to post deposits or post a bond for its entries during a Section 232 tariff appeal, telling the court that it has been unable to reach an agreement with Oman Fasteners on how to secure its revenue should it prevail in an appeal of a Court of International Trade decision that invalidated Section 232 "derivatives" tariffs (Oman Fasteners, et al. v. United States, CIT #20-00037).
Antidumping petitioner Welspun Tubular plans to appeal to the Supreme Court over the question of whether the Commerce Department can make a particular market situation adjustment to the sales-below-cost test when calculating normal value in an antidumping proceeding. According to a March 22 brief filed at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, Welspun wants a stay in the mandate issued by the appellate court nixing the PMS adjustment while the Supreme Court considers the case (Hyundai Steel Company v. United States, Fed. Cir. #21-1748).
The Commerce Department lawfully imposed countervailing duties on Vietnam's undervaluation of currency, DOJ said in a March 21 reply brief at the Court of International Trade. Defending Commerce's recent practice to include currency undervaluation as a countervailable benefit, DOJ argued that the currency undervaluation was specific to traders and that the agency's decision to countervail the currency undervaluation is permitted under the statute (Kumho Tire (Vietnam) Co. v. United States, CIT #21-00397).
The Court of International Trade in a March 18 opinion made public March 23 sustained the Commerce Department's final determination in the countervailing duty investigation on utility scale wind towers from Canada. Addressing the five issues raised by the plaintiffs, Judge Gary Katzmann said Commerce permissibly excluded plaintiff Marmen's foreign auditor's foreign currency adjustment as unreliable, reasonably found the Quebec Local Content Requirement provided a recurring benefit and acted within its authority to find that the Quebec On-the-Job Training tax credit was a de facto subsidy. Commerce also legally excluded some increased tax liabilities and acted lawfully when finding the financial benefit from additional depreciation for buildings used in manufacturing, Katzmann said.
The following lawsuits were recently filed at the Court of International Trade: