The Commerce Department properly denied antidumping duty respondent Icdas a duty drawback adjustment due to the fact that the respondent gave no evidence that its Inward Processing Certificates (i.e., requests to gain the drawback) were closed, the Department of Justice told the Court of International Trade in a Dec. 30 brief. DOJ argued that the denial doesn't cut against past practice, and even if it did, would be a reasonable position to hold (Icdas Celik Enerji Tersane ve Ulasim Sanayi v. U.S., CIT #21-00306).
Section 232 allows the president to expand tariff action beyond procedural time limits laid out in the law, as he did when he expanded the tariffs to cover steel and aluminum derivatives over a year after the tariffs were initially imposed, the Department of Justice told the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in its Jan. 3 brief. Relying heavily on a recent CAFC opinion on an increase of tariffs on Turkish steel, DOJ said the president is allowed to expand Section 232 tariffs to products beyond the ones laid out in the original commerce secretary report as long as it's part of the original "plan of action" (PrimeSource Building Products v. U.S., Fed. Cir. #21-2066).
The following lawsuits were recently filed at the Court of International Trade:
A group of domestic chloropicrin producers will appeal a November Court of International Trade decision that found that the Commerce Department didn't abuse its discretion when it denied the producers' bid to retroactively extend a filing deadline. According to the Jan. 3 notice of appeal, the chloropicrin producers -- Trinity Manufacturing, Ahsta Chemicals and Niklor Chemical Company -- will take their case to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. In the decision, the trade court didn't buy the plaintiffs' excuses that the deadline was missed due to a combination of technical and medical issues. The court subsequently upheld Commerce's rejection of the extension requests following revocation of the relevant antidumping duty order because of the missed deadline (Trinity Manufacturing Inc., et al. v. U.S., CIT #20-03831).
The Court of International Trade granted a stay in an antidumping duty case brought by Interpipe Ukraine until the question over the legality of reducing the U.S. price by the amount of Section 232 duties paid is sorted out. In particular, Interpipe Ukraine's case is stayed until an action brought by Borusan Mannesmann Boru Sanayi ve Ticaret is fully decided at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, since that case also concerns the question of Section 232 reductions (see 2106170026). CIT has held that the Commerce Department can reduce a respondent's U.S. price by the amount of Section 232 duties paid in an AD case (Interpipe Ukraine LLC v. U.S., CIT #21-00530).
The Commerce Department's decision to rely on an antidumping duty respondent's actual costs of its non-prime products is backed by substantial evidence and in line with the law, the Court of International Trade said in its first decision of the new year. The trade court said this complies with a key U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit ruling, Dillinger France S.A. v. U.S.
Auto parts and tools exported to Canada for use at auto races then re-imported don't qualify for duty-free treatment under a U.S. goods returned tariff provision for "tools of the trade," said the Court of International Trade in a Dec. 30 opinion. Though Porsche Motorsport North America contended that the goods were exported to support race teams, CIT Judge Stephen Vaden found that the auto parts and tools were exported to generate sales to race teams rather than for a professional purpose, as required under subheading 9801.00.8500.
The following lawsuits were recently filed at the Court of International Trade:
The Commerce Department's actions in calculating the all-others rate in an antidumping investigation were "patently unreasonable," plywood importers argued in Dec. 29 comments on Commerce's remand results. Submitting their arguments to the Court of International Trade, the importers, led by Taraca Pacific, went after Commerce's method for finding the all-others rate when the agency itself recognized that the petition separate rate application rates the all-others rate was based on was only "to some extent" representative of the separate rate plaintiffs' dumping margin (Linyi Chengen Import and Export Co. v. U.S., CIT Consol. #18-00002).
The Commerce Department was wrong to deny antidumping duty review respondent Noksel's claimed duty drawback adjustment due to the fact that its inward processing certificate (IPC) wasn't closed, plaintiff Noksel Celik Borun Sanayi told the Court of International Trade in a Dec. 23 brief. Noksel argued that it properly demonstrated that it qualifies for the full duty drawback adjustment since all imports and exports under the IPC have been completed and it is no longer permitted by the Turkish government to add import or export information (Noksel Celik Boru Sanayi A.S. v. U.S., CIT #21-00140).