In a decision made public June 6, the Court of International Trade remanded the Commerce Department’s 2019-20 antidumping review of Chinese solar cells so the department could rework its valuation of an input, solar glass, and its adverse facts available calculation.
The Court of International Trade on June 5 sent back the Commerce Department's new shipper review of exporter Co May under the antidumping duty order on frozen fish fillets from Vietnam after the petitioner, the Catfish Farmers of America, challenged whether Co May's single U.S. sale was bona fide. Judge Jane Restani sent the review back so Commerce can address its "profitability analysis," and specifically, so the agency can look at "antidumping duty expenses and sales between likely affiliated parties."
The Court of International Trade on June 9 sent back a Commerce Department scope ruling excluding exporter Cheng Shin Rubber Industry's temporary-use spare tires (T-type tires) from the scope of the antidumping duty order on passenger vehicle and light truck tires from Taiwan. Judge Jennifer Choe-Groves said Commerce improperly added a requirement in the order's scope that the tires be of "regular use," since this term doesn't appear in the "statutory language" and is "belied by the terms of the Order itself."
The Commerce Department failed to follow the "procedural prerequisites" for changing its position on remand when using adverse facts available against exporter Saha Thai Steel Pipe in an antidumping duty review, the Court of International Trade held on June 5. Remanding the review for a third time, Judge Stephen Vaden said Commerce ran "afoul of the most basic of administrative law requirements" when it "falsely claimed to keep its rationale the same" for applying AFA "while quietly changing its position."
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit on June 10 stayed the Court of International Trade's permanent injunction on all of President Donald Trump's executive orders implementing tariffs under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act pending the appeal of the case. In a per curium order, all CAFC judges in regular active service said "a stay is warranted under the circumstances." In addition, the court said all active judges will hear the case, as opposed to the court's traditional three-judge panel approach, in light of the "issues of exceptional importance" presented by the matter.
The Aluminum Association Trade Enforcement Working Group, an antidumping duty petitioner, told the Court of International Trade that a recent CIT decision regarding respondent Assan Aluminyum's duty drawback adjustment is relevant for its case also involving a duty drawback adjustment claim from Assan (Assan Aluminyum Sanayi ve Ticaret v. United States, CIT # 21-00616).
The U.S. disagreed May 30 with an importer’s claim that the Commerce Department’s post-remand scope ruling on wood mouldings and millwork products expanded relevant antidumping duty and countervailing duty orders to cover “an infinite universe of products.” The orders are simply intentionally broad, it said (Hardware Resources v. United States, CIT # 23-00150).
Fish oil importer BASF Corp. sought reconsideration of the Court of International Trade’s May 2 ruling that its fish oil ethyl ester concentrates are “extracts of fish” under Harmonized Tariff Schedule heading 1603, not “food preparations” under heading 2106 (see 2505020018). It said the court “overlooked” Explanatory Note 16.03 for heading 1603 to create an impracticably broad definition of "fish extracts" (BASF Corp. v. United States, CIT Consol. # 13-00318).
The Court of International Trade in a confidential order on June 5 sustained in part and remanded in part the Commerce Department's final results in the new shipper review of the antidumping duty order on frozen fish fillets from Vietnam. AD petitioner Catfish Farmers of America brought the suit to challenge the 2022-23 new shipper review of Vietnamese exporter Co May Import Export Company, which granted the company a de minimis dumping rate. The petitioner argued Co May didn't actually make a bona fide sale in the U.S. during the review period (Catfish Farmers of America v. U.S., CIT # 24-00126).
The Court of International Trade denied the U.S. motion to stay proceedings in a case challenging the elimination of the de minimis threshold for Chinese products. Detroit Axle, the importer challenging the government, then filed an emergency motion requesting the dates ordered by CIT be moved earlier to "preserve Detroit Axle’s ability to obtain meaningful relief" (Axle of Dearborn, d/b/a Detroit Axle v. Dep't of Commerce, CIT # 25-00091).