The Court of International Trade in a July 12 opinion upheld the Commerce Department's decision on voluntary remand to slash from 82.05% to 41.03% the antidumping duty rate for the separate rate respondents in the 2016-17 review on diamond sawblades from China. The case had been stayed pending the resolution of a case on the previous administrative review, Bosun Tools Co. v. U.S., in which the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit affirmed Commerce's move to similarly cut the separate rate.

CBP’s determination that the entries of softwood lumber imported by Fraserview Remanufacturing had been deemed liquidated and the agency's posting of liquidation notices can't be challenged at the Court of International Trade because a protest contesting that determination is currently being adjudicated by CBP, DOJ said in a July 11 dismissal motion (Fraserview Remanufacturing v. U.S., CIT # 23-00063).

CBP's Office of Regulations and Rulings (ORR) ignored key evidence when it reversed the same agency's Trade Remedy & Law Enforcement Directorate's (TRLED) finding that importer Scioto Valley Woodworking evaded antidumping and countervailing duties on wooden cabinets and vanities from China, petitioner American Kitchen Cabinet Alliance said in a July 11 complaint at the Court of International Trade (American Kitchen Cabinet Alliance v. U.S., CIT # 23-00140).

The Court of International Trade remanded parts and sustained parts of the Commerce Department's countervailing duty investigation of phosphate fertilizers from Russia. CIT Judge Jane Restani in a July 11 opinion upheld Commerce's tier-three benchmark calculation for natural gas, which included the import-specific 20% value-added tax and 5% import duty, along with the agency's decision to countervail phosphate rock mining licenses issued by the Russian government to exporters EuroChem and PhosAgro. Restani remanded Commerce's decision to use a "profit before tax" figure to account for exported phosphate rock prices when calculating PhosAgro's profit ratio, as well as Commerce's reliance on PhosAgro's cost information and its explanation for why it found EuroChem's cost information supported.

The Court of International Trade in a pair of July 13 opinions dismissed two lawsuits, one from importer PrimeSource Building Products and the other from Oman Fasteners and Huttig Building Products, challenging President Donald Trump's move to expand the Section 232 national security tariffs onto steel and aluminum "derivatives." The order comes after the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit issued its mandate after finding that the expansion, made beyond procedural time limits, was legal. Relying on its prior decision in Transpacific Steel v. U.S., the court said that a tariff move made outside these limits is permissible so long as it fits under the duties' original plan of action.

The Court of International Trade should affirm Commerce Department margin calculations for Mexican exporters Simec, Acerero and Sidertul in the 2019-20 antidumping duty administrative review on steel concrete reinforcing bar from Mexico, the Rebar Trade Action Coalition (RTAC) said in its July 10 motion at the Court of International Trade (Grupo Simec v. U.S., CIT Consol. # 22-00202).

The Commerce Department was not required to credit countervailing duty respondent Jiangsu Alcha Aluminum's claims of non-use of the Export Buyer’s Credit Program (EBCP) and correctly applied adverse facts available, DOJ said in a July 10 reply brief at the Court of International Trade. The brief came in reply to Alcha's April motion for judgment, in which it contested the agency's methodology during the administrative review of a countervailing duty order on common alloy aluminum sheet from China (see 2304170048) (Jiangsu Alcha Aluminum Co. v. U.S., CIT # 22-00290).

The U.S. and importer Pacific World reached a settlement regarding the classification of artificial nails, Michael Roll, counsel for the importer, confirmed to Trade Law Daily. The settlement led to the dismissal of 15 cases at the Court of International Trade that were suspended pending resolution of a test case, also brought by Pacific World, which was resolved in 2016.

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The Court of International Trade on July 12 upheld the Commerce Department's decision on voluntary remand to slash the antidumping duty rate for the separate rate respondents in the 2016-17 review on diamond sawblades from China from 82.05% to 41.03%. The case had been stayed pending the resolution of Bosun Tools v. U.S., in which Commerce originally used the 82.05% adverse facts available rate in an earlier review given that the mandatory respondents were uncooperative. The agency slashed the rate in that case as well, leading to an identical move in the present case led by exporter Danyang Weiwang Tools Manufacturing Co.