The Court of International Trade told litigants in a paperless order to file a proposed stipulated judgment in a countervailing duty case after a resolution of the matter was reached following a voluntary remand from the Commerce Department. Commerce said that a South Korean sewerage fees program was not countervailable, leading to a de minimis rate for plaintiff Hyundai Steel Company. In a March 9 joint status report, Hyundai and the U.S. said that case was resolved following the voluntary remand (Hyundai Steel Company v. United States, CIT #21-00012).
The Court of International Trade should deny the U.S.'s motion to dismiss a case from Wheatland Tube Co. seeking to compel CBP to respond to requests for information and a tariff classification ruling, Wheatland said in a March 9 reply brief. DOJ had said the trade court should toss the case, in part, since it already responded to the RFI and petition for a tariff classification. Wheatland disagreed, arguing that CBP's limited response failed to meet the requirements of Section 1516 which mandates that CBP "furnish the classification and the rate of duty imposed upon designated imported merchandise" (Wheatland Tube Company v. United States, CIT #22-00004).
The Court of International Trade remanded an Enforce and Protect Act challenge, per the U.S.' request, to give CBP a chance to fix the record after it found out that parties to the investigation weren't given certain documents in the investigation. The case involves a CBP investigation of allegations that Norca Industrial Co. evaded antidumping duties on carbon steel butt-weld pipe fittings from China by transshipping its imports through Vietnam. The documents include those relating to a third party's photos and videos from a site visit to manufacturer BW Fittings' Vietnam facility. Judge Jennifer Choe-Groves granted the remand solely for the "full consideration of the complete record" and declined to "opine" on other issues raised by Norca.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit ruled March 11 that there's not enough evidence to back the Commerce Department's position that a particular market situation existed affecting inputs for oil country tubular goods in an antidumping duty administrative review on OCTG from South Korea. Affirming the Court of International Trade, the Federal Circuit said there's no evidence for three of the five factors Commerce alleged created a PMS. The appellate court also rejected Commerce's reliance on its differential pricing analysis to detect "masked" dumping since certain conditions for the statistical test used by Commerce were not met.
Exporter China Customs Manufacturing's solar panel mount assemblies are "fully and completely assembled" at the time they're imported, thus qualifying for a finished merchandise exclusion from the antidumping duty and countervailing duty orders on aluminum extrusions from China, CCM argued. Filing its opening brief at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit on March 8, CCM, along with Greentec Engineering, argued that the record shows that the solar panel mount assemblies satisfy each of the requirements for the exclusion, including being fully assembled at the time of entry (China Custom Manufacturing v. United States, Fed. Cir. #22-1345).
The following lawsuits were recently filed at the Court of International Trade:
The Court of International Trade should deny Chinese exporter Jangho Group's bid for a rehearing in a countervailing duty case filed to contest Commerce's alleged failure to address the company's alternative arguments, the U.S. said in a March 9 reply brief. Jangho last raised the "long gone" arguments in 2019, and failed to raise its alternative arguments in its post-remand brief, meaning they are "waived" and thus not eligible for further litigation, DOJ argued (Taizhou United Imp. & Exp. Co. v. United States, CIT Consol. #16-00009).
The Court of International Trade granted steel importer North American Interpipe refunds on Section 232 steel and aluminum duties it paid following court mediation over the company's challenge to the U.S.'s denials of NAI's exclusion requests from the tariffs. Per the public stipulated judgment on agreed-upon fact, Judge M. Miller Baker penned an order which declares that NAI may not appeal (North American Interpipe v. United States, CIT #20-03825).
The following lawsuits were recently filed at the Court of International Trade:
OCP, a Moroccan state-owned fertilizer maker, asked the Court of International Trade to order the International Trade Commission to reconsider its determination of injury. OCP's March 3 motion accuses the ITC of failing to consider arguments and evidence in the countervailing duty investigation of phosphate fertilizers from Morocco and Russia. The ITC determined in March 2021 that Morocco was subsidizing phosphate fertilization and that U.S. domestic industry was materially injured (OCP S.A. v. U.S., CIT Consol. # 21-00219).