Consumer goods conglomerate 3M agreed to pay over $6.5 million to settle charges it violated the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act's internal controls provisions, the SEC announced Aug. 25. 3M's China-based subsidiary allegedly arranged for Chinese government employees of state-owned healthcare facilities to travel to international conferences, educational events and healthcare facility visits as part of the subsidiary's "marketing and outreach efforts."
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in an Aug. 28 order allowed the Canadian government and eight Canadian exporters to file an amicus brief in a case on the Commerce Department's use of the Cohen's d test as part of its analysis to root out "masked" dumping. The Canadian government and companies asked for leave to file the brief earlier this month in the case in which the appellate court originally questioned the use of the test, arguing that Commerce is not using the statistical tool "in any coherent sense" (see 2308020027). The brief objected to the agency's defense of the test, which said that it can use the tool despite not satisfying base statistical assumptions since it is using the whole population of data instead of a sample (Stupp Corp. v. U.S., Fed. Cir. # 23-1663).
The U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida was wrong to deny refrigerant importer BMP International's motion to compel arbitration in a case brought by Chinese company T.T. International Co. (TTI) for unpaid invoices, BMP argued in its opening brief at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit. The district court had said that the motion for arbitration was waived by BMP, along with joint venture iGas USA, after the companies failed to raise the issue in an earlier case involving TTI and BMP (T.T. International Co. v. BMP International, 11th Cir. # 23-11978).
The Commerce Department's use of an adverse inference against exporter Yama Ribbons and Bows Co. for its supposed benefit from China's Export Buyer's Credit Program was "critically flawed," the Court of International Trade ruled on Aug. 25. Judge Timothy Stanceu, remanding the 2018 review of the countervailing duty order on woven ribbon from China, said that Commerce based its use of adverse facts available on "missing" information from the Chinese government that the agency never actually requested. The judge added that submissions from the Chinese state, along with Yama itself, stand as enough to refute any finding that the exporter benefitted from the EBCP.
SpaceX illegally discriminated against asylees and refugees in its hiring practices by claiming it could only hire U.S. citizens and legal permanent residents under export control laws, DOJ alleged in a lawsuit filed on Aug. 24. Export control laws "impose no such hiring restrictions," the agency said, adding that the company violated the Immigration and Nationality Act in its hiring practices.
The Commerce Department revised its surrogate manufacturing overhead ratio and its surrogate hourly labor rate on remand at the Court of International Trade as part of a suit on the 2017-18 review of the antidumping duty order on multilayered wood flooring from China. Per the remand results, submitted on Aug. 24, Commerce raised the dumping rate for respondent Fusong Jinglong Wooden Group Co. from zero to 2.05%, while keeping the 0% rate for Jiangsu Guyu International Trading Co. The rate for the non-individually examined companies also rose to 2.05% (American Manufacturers of Multilayered Wood Flooring v. United States, CIT # 20-03948).
The Commerce Department didn't properly select Brazil as the primary surrogate nation in an antidumping review while also using Malaysian data for respondent Senmao's log inputs, the Court of International Trade ruled in an Aug. 24 opinion. Judge Jennifer Choe-Groves said that in the 2019-20 AD review of multilayered wood flooring from China, Commerce failed to point to any record evidence it used in ditching Brazil's data for Malaysia's.
The World Trade Organization will hold a public forum on Sept. 12 with the goal of exploring how "digitalization and inclusive trade policies can support" a "greener and more sustainable future," the WTO announced. The event will feature a lecture by former British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, the WTO World Trade Report for 2023, "high-level plenaries," working sessions and networking opportunities. The plenary sessions will focus on "how trade can keep the ambition of the Paris Agreement of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees alive" and feature the topics of "fostering sustainable development through trade, the decarbonization of the transport sector, inclusive trade policies, and how technology can boost green innovation," the WTO said.
No lawsuits were recently filed at the Court of International Trade.
Exporter Tenaris Bay City's "only hope" in its case against the International Trade Commission's injury finding for oil country tubular goods from Argentina and Mexico is for the Court of International Trade to "reweigh the evidence," though this is barred by the "statutory standard of review," petitioners led by U.S. Steel Corp. argued. Replying to Tenaris' motion for judgment, the petitioners said that "[e]xtensive evidence confirmed that subject imports materially injured the domestic industry," and that the ITC permissibly cumulated imports from Russia in the analysis (Tenaris Bay City v. United States, CIT Consol. # 22-00344).