The U.S. urged the Court of International Trade to uphold the Commerce Department's remand results in which it found that Vietnam Finewood Co.'s hardwood plywood made using two-ply panels imported to Vietnam from China is not subject to the scope of the AD/CVD orders on hardwood plywood from China. Submitting remand comments to the court, the agency said that since no party contests the remand results, the court should uphold them (Far East American v. United States, CIT Consol. # 22-00049).
The Court of International Trade should deny a government motion to amend a complaint and toss the action with respect to a single entry, American Home Assurance Company (AHAC) said in an Aug. 14 motion. DOJ is seeking antidumping duties and interest on eight single transaction bonds issued over 20 years ago (U.S. v. American Home Assurance Co., CIT # 20-00175).
DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and Acting CBP Commissioner Troy Miller must respond to allegations of forced labor used in imported cocoa from Côte d’Ivoire by seven major chocolate companies, the International Rights Advocates (IRAdvocates) said in its Aug. 15 complaint at the Court of International Trade. The suit aims to force DHS and CBP to issue a decision in response to a 2020 petition filed by IRAdvocates along with Corporate Accountability Lab, and the University of California Irvine Law School's Human Rights Clinic (UCI) (International Rights Advocates v. Alejandro Mayorkas and Troy Miller, CIT # 23-00165).
The Court of International Trade on Aug. 16 denied a motion by importer Wanxiang America to dismiss a penalty case related to misclassification and failure to pay antidumping duties on tapered roller bearings. Judge Gary Katzmann ruled that the importer's failure to abide by a CBP notice of action could be considered negligence or gross negligence, even though the notice of action wasn't binding on Wanxiang's subsequent entries. Katzmann also found misclassifications can constitute false statements subject to Section 1592 penalties, though he noted Wanxiang's "well-founded concerns" that mere classification disagreements shouldn't rise to the level of a penalty. He also declined to dismiss a count of negligence based on Wanxiang's arguments that a key scope ruling identifying the importer's goods a subject to antidumping duties had not yet been released.
The Commerce Department legally used antidumping duty respondent Dillinger France's normal books and records as facts otherwise available by reallocating production costs between prime and non-prime plate in the AD investigation on carbon and alloy steel cut-to-length plate from France, the Court of International Trade ruled in an Aug. 15 opinion.
The following lawsuits were recently filed at the Court of International Trade:
The Court of International Trade issued an order last week halting liquidation of imported wooden cabinets and vanities from China that were the subject of an Enforce and Protect Act investigation into possible evasion by importer Scioto Valley Woodworking (American Kitchen Cabinet Alliance v. U.S., CIT # 23-00140).
The Commerce Department ignored a Court of International Trade remand order to reconsider the use of adverse facts against antidumping duty respondent Meihua and restated arguments on remand that the CIT had already rejected (see 2306280043), Meihua said in its Aug. 11 remand comments at CIT. Consolidated plaintiffs Deosen Biochemical and Jianlong Biotechnology raised separate issues with the remand in their own comments (Meihua Group International (Hong Kong) v. U.S., CIT # 22-00069).
The Court of International Trade lacks the authority to prevent CBP from collecting Section 232 steel and aluminum duties from importer PrimeSource Building Products given the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit's ruling upholding the duties, the government argued in a recent brief. Responding to PrimeSource's request for a stay of the appellate court's mandate pending its appeal of the suit to the U.S. Supreme Court, the U.S. said the Federal Circuit's mandate "could not be clearer": President Donald Trump's expansion of the duties to cover steel and aluminum "derivatives" is lawful and CBP's collection of the duties proper (PrimeSource Building Products v. U.S., CIT # 20-00032).
CBP miscalculated antidumping duty payments on imported crystalline silicon photovoltaic products from Taiwain, ignored prior disclosure payments by importer URE NSP, and then partially denied a protest seeking those refunds, said URE NSP in an Aug. 11 complaint at the Court of International Trade (URE NSP Corporation v. U.S. CBP, CIT # 23-00154). The company asked the court to order a refund of about $311,00 plus interest for overpayment of duties.