The Court of International Trade on July 6 again remanded the Commerce Department's refusal to start a successor-in-interest changed circumstances review for exporter GreenFirst Forest Products under the countervailing duty investigation on softwood lumber products from Canada, finding the agency did not address CIT's concerns in an initial remand about how the agency's successor-in-interest practice applies to non-individually examined companies

The Court of International Trade on July 7 remanded a case contesting an antidumping duty administrative review on frozen fish fillets from Vietnam. The still-confidential order from Judge M. Miller Baker directs Commerce to reconsider its surrogate country selection process and to consider countries at a “comparable level of economic development” as potential surrogates on an equal basis with countries Commerce deems to be at “the same level of economic development” (Catfish Farmers of America v. U.S., CIT # 21-00380).

The Commerce department’s decision to use the all-others rate from an earlier antidumping duty investigation on quartz surface products to calculate the rate for the non-selected respondents in the first administrative review should be remanded to the agency, AD petitioner Cambria said in a June 30 motion at the Court of International Trade (Cambria Co. v. United States, CIT # 23-00007).

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The duty drawback methodology applied by the Commerce Department to Turkish exporter Assan Aluminyum Sanayi ve Ticaret is "fundamentally flawed" and cuts against the statute's plain language, antidumping duty petitioner Aluminum Association Common Alloy Aluminum Sheet Trade Enforcement Working Group told the Court of International Trade in a brief on Commerce's remand results on the AD investigation on common alloy aluminum sheet from Turkey (Assan Aluminyum Sanayi ve Ticaret v. U.S., CIT #21-00246).

The Court of International Trade in a July 6 opinion sent back the Commerce Department's denial of exporter GreenFirst Forest Products' request for a successor-in-interest changed circumstances review for the purposes of countervailing duties on softwood lumber products from Canada. GreenFirst sought the review after it acquired Rayonier A.M. Canada's lumber mills, arguing it is entitled to RYAM's "non-selected" CVD rate rather than the 14.19% all-others rate. Judge Claire Kelly remanded Commerce's decision not to start the review for the second time, finding the agency did not address her question of why Commerce's successor-in-interest practice is reasonable for non-individually examined companies.

Neither DOJ nor the Commerce Department provided a definition of the term "easement" in relation to Commerce's finding that a "conditional easement" exempting input supplier Nur Gemicilik from paying rent on land was a good provided by the Turkish government and subject to a less than adequate remuneration (LTAR) analysis, exporter Kaptan Demir Celik Endustrisi ve Ticaret argued in a reply brief (Kaptan Demir Celik Endustrisi ve Ticaret, CIT # 22-00149).

Covers for smartphones, tablets, and media players made of plastic and silicone are "other articles of plastic" and not "trunks, suitcases ... and similar containers...," importer Incipio Technologies said in a June 29 complaint. CBP initially classified the covers under Harmonized Tariff Schedule subheadings 4202.92.90 or 4202.99.90, dutiable at 17.6% or 20%. Incipio's prefered subheading of 3926.90.99 carries a duty rate of 5.3%. Incipio asked the court to reliquidate the cases and to order CBP to refund excess duties with interest (Incipio Technologies v. U.S., CIT # 19-00097).

DOJ defended the Commerce Department's use of adverse facts available on exporter Grupo Simec in an antidumping duty review due to Simec's failure to timely submit all of the information requested. In a June 26 reply brief at the Court of International Trade, DOJ said that even though it granted several extensions to Simec so the company could file its initial and supplemental questionnaires, the exporter failed to timely submit the information in the 2019-20 administrative review of the AD order on steel concrete reinforcing bar from Mexico (Grupo Simec v. United States, CIT Consol. # 22-00202).

Tomato exporter Bioparques de Occidente failed to address many of its claims before the Commerce Department in a case on the agency's decision to resume an antidumping duty investigation after the termination of a suspension agreement, the government said in a reply brief. Issuing the brief after the trade court said Bioparques has the jurisdiction to challenge the decision, the U.S. addressed the remainder of the exporter's eight claims, arguing that Commerce's continuation of the investigation was "properly conducted" (Bioparques de Occidente v. United States, CIT # 19-00204).