The Commerce Department cannot apply adverse facts available to countervailing duty respondents over their customers' alleged use of China's Export Buyer's Credit Program, two Chinese exporters said in a Dec. 23 complaint at the Court of International Trade. Citing 13 prior CIT decisions striking down Commerce's use of AFA in this way, the plaintiffs -- Dunhua City Jisen Wood Industry Co. and Dalian Shumaike Floor Manufacturing Co. -- said that the mandatory respondents showed they didn't use this program and that no evidence exists to the contrary (Dunhua City Jisen Wood Industry Co. v. U.S., CIT #21-00599).
The Commerce Department wants another shot at considering 15 denied requests for exclusions from the Section 232 steel and aluminum tariffs, it said in a Dec. 23 partial voluntary remand request at the Court of International Trade. Commerce's offer of reconsideration would cover only 15 of plaintiff NLMK Pennsylvania's 54 denied exclusion requests. Commerce's brief stated that counsel for NLMK did not indicate support for or opposition to the motion yet, but would oppose the agency's 150-day timeline for reconsidering the 15 exclusion requests (NLMK Pennsylvania v. U.S., CIT #21-00507).
The Court of International Trade should sustain the Commerce Department's decision not to conduct an on-site verification in an antidumping review, the Department of Justice told the trade court in a Dec. 17 brief. Defending the COVID-era practice in yet another case, DOJ said that the plaintiffs, led by Ellwood City Forge Company, failed to raise the issue of on-site verification to Commerce during the proceeding, and that even if the court were to consider this challenge, the off-site verification procedures were consistent with the law and necessary, given the pandemic (Ellwood City Forge Company v. U.S., CIT #21-00077).
The Commerce Department failed to justify its reliance on a third-country company's financial statements for calculating constructed value in an antidumping duty review despite a U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit opinion that called that reliance into question, the Court of International Trade said. Remanding Commerce's finding for the third time in a Dec. 22 opinion, Judge Mark Barnett said that Commerce did not adequately distinguish the review from a case in which the company's financial statements were found to be unsuitable since there was evidence of a subsidy.
The Commerce Department must reconsider whether antidumping duty respondent Power Steel paid Section 232 duties on all of its U.S. sales, the Court of International Trade said in a Dec. 23 opinion. Commerce, in an antidumping duty review, deducted Section 232 duties from all of Power Steel's U.S. sales when calculating export price. In her remand, Judge Jane Restani said sales invoices submitted by Power Steel may show it didn't pay Section 232 duties for some of its U.S. sales, so Commerce must take those into effect.
The following lawsuits were recently filed at the Court of International Trade:
Importer TR International Trading Company's imports of citric acid anhydrous is not subject to the antidumping and countervailing duty orders on citric acid from China, and CBP was wrong to liquidate the entries as such, TRI said in a Dec. 22 complaint at the Court of International Trade. Seeking to get the court to rule against CBP's decision to liquidate its entries as being from China and not from India, TRI also blasted a Customs Laboratory's role in the process (TR International Trading Company v. United States, CIT #19-00217).
The Court of International Trade on Dec. 22 again remanded the Commerce Department's second remand results in the antidumping duty investigation of steel nails from Oman. The second remand results had been filed in response to a Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit opinion that said Commerce didn't adequately explain its reliance on a financial statement from Hitech Fastener Manufacturer (Thailand) Co. -- a third-country company -- to calculate constructed-value profit since Commerce didn't adequately consider whether Hitech had received countervailable subsidies. CIT Judge Mark Barnett found Commerce's decision to stick with Hitech's financial statement wasn't in compliance with the Federal Circuit.
The Commerce Department found that importer Star Pipe Products' 11 ductile iron flanges are not subject to the antidumping duty order on cast iron pipe fittings from China, in Dec. 22 remand results submitted to the Court of International Trade, though it did so under protest (Star Pipe Products v. United States, CIT #17-00236).
The Court of International Trade remanded the Commerce Department's final results in the administrative review of the antidumping duty order on steel concrete reinforcing bar from Taiwan in a Dec. 23 opinion. The plaintiff, Power Steel Co. argued that Commerce can't deduct Section 232 duties from the U.S. export price and that the agency was wrong to find that Power Steel paid Section 232 duties for all its U.S. sales. While Judge Jane Restani upheld Commerce's Section 232 deduction, the judge told the agency to reconsider whether record evidence shows that Power Steel did not pay Section 232 duties for some of its entries.