The Court of International Trade in a Jan. 10 order upheld the Commerce Department's remand results in a case involving the 2018 administrative review of the countervailing duty order on solar cells from China. On remand, Commerce said that because one of respondent Wuxi Tianran Photovoltaic's U.S. customers did not participate in the review's virtual verification, the agency didn't have enough information to verify Wuxi Tianran did not benefit from China's Export Buyer's Credit Program. The respondent conceded that Commerce complied with the trade court's remand orders. Given the lack of any challenge, Judge Jane Restani upheld the case.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, during Jan. 10 oral arguments, heard disputes over whether the court should follow the Court of International Trade in setting aside Section 232 national security tariffs on derivative products made of steel and aluminum. Seeking to differentiate the appeal from the Federal Circuit's decision in Transpacific Steel v. U.S., in which the court said the president can take certain Section 232 action beyond procedural deadlines, counsel for plaintiff-appellants PrimeSource Building Products, Oman Fasteners and Huttig Building Products said the matter is different for derivative goods, while the government said Transpacific has settled the matter (PrimeSource Building Products v. U.S. , Fed. Cir. # 21-2066).
Plaintiffs Ellwood City Forge, Ellwood National Steel, Ellwood Quality Steel and A. Finkl & Sons will appeal a Court of International Trade decision on the Commerce Department's use of a questionnaire instead of on-site verification in an antidumping duty case. The plaintiffs will take the case to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, according to the Jan. 6 notice of appeal. In the case, which concerns the antidumping duty investigation on forged steel fluid end blocks from Italy, the trade court said the plaintiffs failed to exhaust their administrative remedies on the verification question (see 2206140044). The plaintiffs then unsuccessfully sought reconsideration of the issue -- a move the court deemed to be an impermissible attempt to relitigate the case (Ellwood City Forge v. U.S., CIT #21-00073).
The Commerce Department violated the law when it carried out a bona fides analysis of separate rate respondent Dalian Hualing Wood Co. in an antidumping duty review, the exporter argued in a Jan. 9 complaint at the Court of International Trade. The move "was contrary to its precedent, practice, was arbitrary" and not supported by evidence, the brief said. Commerce further erred by treating Hualing's sale as non-bona fide in the antidumping duty review while treating it as bona fide in the countervailing duty review (Dalian Hualing Wood Co. v. United States, CIT #22-00334).
The Court of International Trade in a Jan. 9 opinion denied the New Zealand government's bid to delay a preliminary injunction barring the import of certain fish taken from New Zealand's West Coast North Island multispecies set-net and trawl fisheries into the U.S. The New Zealand government requested the temporary stay of the PI to set up a traceability system that would help the govenrment identify the fish subject to the injunction. Judge Gary Katzmann said that the need to set up this system does not constitute a changed circumstance that would permit the modification of the PI.
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit judges questioned the limits of the finished merchandise exclusion in antidumping and countervailing duty orders during Jan. 9 oral argument in a case over whether solar panel roof mounts fall within the scope of the AD/CVD orders on aluminum extrusions from China. While Judges Pauline Newman, Raymond Chen and Tiffany Cunningham questioned plaintiff-appellant China Custom Manufacturing's contention that its solar mounts are a finished product even though they are incorporated into a larger downstream product, the judges further probed the U.S. claims against this point with equal vigor (China Custom Manufacturing v. U.S., Fed. Cir. #22-1345).
The following lawsuits were recently filed at the Court of International Trade:
Two Court of International Trade decisions cited by plaintiff-appellants in a scope case as supplemental authorities need not be considered by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, defendant-appellee Aluminum Extrusions Fair Trade Committee said in a Jan. 4 letter to the appellate court. The CIT decisions are not "pertinent and significant" because they are "not binding on this court" and "are simply further decisions from the same dissenting judge" at the trade court, the appellee said (China Custom Manufacturing v. U.S., Fed. Cir. # 22-1345).
The Commerce Department's surrogate value picks for inputs of activated carbon violated the law, exporter Jilin Bright Future Chemicals Co. argued in a Jan. 6 complaint at the Court of International Trade. Commerce further erred by deducting VAT amounts from Jilin Bright's export price and in its valuation of the overhead; selling, general and administrative expenses; and profit components of normal value by calculating surrogate financial ratios with data from Tan Meng Keong and Century Chemical Works, the exporter said (Jilin Bright Future Chemicals Co. v. United States, CIT #22-00336).
CBP illegally failed to refund excess antidumping duty cash deposits totaling over $490,000, importer Marubeni-Itochu Steel America argued in a Jan. 5 complaint at the Court of International Trade. The agency violated the Administrative Procedure Act when it failed to suspend liquidation of the entries, hold the cash deposits in suspense and issue a prompt refund, the importer claimed (Marubeni-Itochu Steel America v. United States, CIT # 23-00004).