The Department of Justice will appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit a November 2021 Court of International Trade decision striking down the Trump administration's withdrawal of a tariff exclusion on bifacial solar panels, according to a Jan. 14 notice of appeal. In the opinion, the trade court struck down the exclusion rescission since the law only permits trade liberalizing alterations to the existing safeguard measures (see 2111160032) (Solar Energy Industries Association v. United States, CIT #20-03941).
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit dismissed an appeal from the Government of Argentina and Argentine biodiesel company LDC Argentina over the Commerce Department's changed circumstances review of countervailing duties on biodiesel from Argentina. The two had appealed a Court of International Trade decision affirming Commerce's determination that the situation had not changed regarding countervailable subsides from Argentina's biodiesel industry. The trade court also upheld Commerce's decision to originally find changed circumstances but later switch back to a finding of no changed circumstances (see 2109210046) (Government of Argentina v. United States, Fed. Cir. #22-1190).
The Court of International Trade should sustain the International Trade Commission's critical circumstances finding on small vertical shaft engines from China, Briggs & Stratton said in a Jan. 14 brief. Responding to plaintiff MTD Products, which argued that COVID-19 manufacturing complications distorted both the timing and the volume of imports over the post-petition period (see 2106010058), Briggs & Stratton said that the ITC took into account the timing and volume of the imports and any rapid upticks in inventories of the imports when making its decision (MTD Products Inc v. United States, CIT #21-00264).
PrimeSource Building Products distinguished a recent U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit decision affirming the Commerce Department's ability to use adverse facts available in its separate rate calculation from its case at issue at the Court of International Trade. Submitting a notice of supplemental authority to rival the one submitted by the antidumping petitioner, PrimeSource said that the recent Federal Circuit opinion in Bosun Tools v. U.S. is not applicable to its case since the appellate court noted an increasing trend in past rates calculated for one of the separate rate respondents that justified the use of AFA. No such trend exists in PrimeSource's case, the brief said.
Puerto Rican importer Ricardo Cruz Distributors told the Court of International Trade in a Jan. 13 complaint that CBP imposed the wrong countervailing duty rate on an entry of its tires since the seller of the tires was given an individual CVD rate in the past. The exporter of the tires at issue was Chinese manufacturer Tyrechamp, which was given an individual CVD rate of 15.56% in 2016. The company admitted to placing the wrong company name under the "Manufacturer ID" section in one of its forms to CBP, but still argues that the lower rate should nonetheless be applied (Ricardo Cruz Distributors Inc. v. United States, CIT #22-00006).
The following lawsuits were recently filed at the Court of International Trade:
Two importers asked the Court of International Trade to sustain remand results from the Commerce Department that found certain door thresholds qualify for the "finished merchandise" exclusion from antidumping and countervailing duty orders on aluminum extrusions from China. In a pair of briefs filed in two separate cases, Columbia Aluminum Products and Worldwide Door Components said Commerce correctly reversed course after CIT's remand (Worldwide Door Components v. United States, CIT #19-00012) (Columbia Aluminum Products v. United States, CIT # 19-00013).
The European Union's Common Agricultural Policy is de facto specific via its Basic Payment Scheme to Spanish olive growers since they receive a "disproportionately large" amount of its benefits, the Department of Justice and defendant-intervenor Coalition for Fair Trade in Ripe Olives told the Court of International Trade in a pair of briefs (Asociacion de Exportadores e Industriales de Aceitunas de Mesa v. United States, CIT #18-00195).
The Commerce Department dropped its reliance on facts available in an antidumping duty investigation after conducting remand proceedings at the Court of International Trade, finding a questionnaire it issued in lieu of a site visit during the coronavirus pandemic "satisfies the verification requirement" laid out in the statute, in remand results filed Jan. 12 at the Court of International Trade (Ellwood City Forge Company v. United States, CIT #21-00007).
The Court of International Trade on Jan. 13 sustained the Commerce Department's final determination in a countervailing duty investigation on carbon and alloy steel cut-to-length plate from South Korea, upholding the agency's finding that the Korean Electricity Corp. (KEPCO) didn't provide electricity for less than adequate remuneration (LTAR) and that the prices on the Korean Power Exchange (KPX) aren't a countervailable benefit.