Importer Diamond Tools Technology will appeal the Court of International Trade's rejection of the company's request for attorney's fees in its challenge to CBP's determination that Diamond Tools Technology evaded the antidumping duty order on diamond sawblades from China. In March, Judge Timothy Reif said that since the case offered two issues of "first impression," the government's position was "substantially justified" for purposes of not awarding attorney's fees to the importer (Diamond Tools Technology v. United States, CIT # 20-00060).
The Court of International Trade in an April 19 decision made public April 29 sent back for the third time the Commerce Department's decision not to investigate the sale of off-peak electricity in South Korea for less than adequate remuneration. Judge Mark Barnett said that Commerce failed to explain why evidence submitted by petitioner Nucor Corp. was insufficient "pursuant to the low standard" for opening a subsidy investigation established in RZBC Group Shareholding Co. v. U.S.
The World Trade Organization's Dispute Settlement Body met on April 26 and was introduced to the new facilitator of the dispute settlement reform talks: Mauritius's Usha Dwarka-Canabady, the WTO announced. The chair of the DSB, Norway's Petter Olberg, said that Dwarka-Canabady accepted the role on April 18 after the "convenor" of the reform process left.
The European Commission and Canada on April 26 proposed new rules to help small and medium-sized enterprises take advantage of the investment dispute resolution mechanism under the EU-Canada Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement, the commission's Directorate-General for Trade announced.
Chinese nationals Han Li and Lin Chen were charged for their role in a conspiracy to illegally export controlled U.S. technology to Chinese end users, in violation of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act and Export Administration Regulations, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of California announced.
The U.S. and petitioner Nucor Corp. defended the Commerce Department's use of partial adverse facts available against exporter Salzgitter Flachstahl in the antidumping duty investigation on carbon and alloy steel cut-to-length plate from Germany, in a pair of reply briefs at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. The government said the steel company said Commerce properly identified a gap in the record stemming from Salzgitter's failure to submit manufacturer information for 28,000 of its sales from an affiliated reseller, Salzgitter Mannesmann Stahlhandel (AG der Dillinger Huttenwerke v. U.S., Fed. Cir. # 24-1219).
German exporter thyssenkrupp Rasselstein filed a notice of dismissal on April 26 at the Court of International Trade in its case contesting the Commerce Department's final determination in the antidumping duty investigation on tin mill products from Germany. The dismissal came before the company filed its complaint in the suit, only filing the summons on March 29. Counsel for the exporter didn't respond to a request for comment (thyssenkrupp Rasselstein v. United States, CIT # 24-00067).
Importer Netgear filed a complaint at the Court of International Trade on April 26 seeking reliquidation of re-imported LTE routers under duty-free Harmonized Tariff Schedule subheading 9802.00.50. The company is seeking refunds of any overpayments of Merchandise Processing Fees and Harbor Maintenance Fees, along with a refund of Section 301 duties (Netgear v. United States, CIT # 22-00129).
Members of the World Trade Organization's Committee on Anti-Dumping Practices on April 24 met to review the latest notifications of "new, amended or previously reviewed anti-dumping laws and regulations" and actions, the WTO said. New legislation notices came in from "the Kyrgyz Republic, Rwanda, the United Kingdom and the United States," while the committee continued to review the notifications from Cameroon, the EU, Ghana, Liberia and Saint Kitts and Nevis. The committee was notified in semi-annual reports covering the period July 1 - Dec. 31, 2023, that 41 members took new AD actions and 14 reported no new actions.
Thai exporter Sahamitr Pressure Container is challenging the Commerce Department's decision to reclassify certain cylinders as outside the scope of the antidumping duty order on steel propane cylinders from Thailand as part of its model match methodology. In its complaint, filed at the Court of International Trade April 24, Sahamitr also challenged Commerce's use of the Cohen's d test to detect "masked" dumping in the 2021-22 review of the AD order (Sahamitr Pressure Container v. U.S., CIT # 24-00064).