The Commerce Department and the International Trade Commission prematurely carried out the second sunset review of the antidumping duty order on stilbenic optical brightening agents from Taiwan and China, U.S. company Archroma U.S. argued in its June 26 motion for judgment at the Court of International Trade (Archroma U.S., Inc. v. United States, CIT # 22-00354).

Importer Tokyo Ohka Kogyo America filed a complaint at the Court of International Trade on June 26 to contest the tariff classification of its photoresists and other chemical products for photographic uses. The suit concerns two different protests filed with CBP, one brought before the agency in 2008 and the other in 2009, though both were denied in 2017. The case on the two protests was severed in 2021 from a separate court action also brought by Tokyo Ohka Kogyo. The company is claiming that CBP improperly classified the merchandise under Harmonized Tariff Schedule subheading 3707.90.32, dutiable at 3.2%, claiming that the goods instead should have been classified under subheading 3707.10.00, dutiable at 3% (Tokyo Ohka Kogyo America v. United States, CIT # 21-00371).

Pop-up tents designed for backpacking should be duty-free "backpacking tents" instead of other" tents, Ohio-based tent importer Under the Weather (UTW) said in its June 23 complaint at the Court of International Trade. The company is challenging CBP's classification of its imported tents at a higher duty rate than the company had used for eight years and despite an earlier protest approval that seemed to have affirmed UTW's preferred classification (Under the Weather v. U.S., CIT # 21-00211).

Lawyers from both Norca Engineered Products and DOJ tried to convince Court of International Trade Judge Jane Restani that their preferred definition of "backhoe" was the correct one, during June 23 oral arguments (Norca Engineered Products v. U.S., CIT # 21-00305).

Greek exporter Corinth Pipeworks Pipe Industry and importer CPW America Co. will appeal a Court of International Trade opinion upholding the use of total adverse facts available due to Corinth's reported costs not being reconciled to its normal books and records. Per the notice of appeal, the exporter will take the case to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. At the trade court, Judge Leo Gordon said the law does not require Commerce to respond to Corinth's claims on its use of total AFA, which the agency used in the first instance in the final results of the AD review on large diameter welded pipe from Greece (see 2305010054). The result was a 41.04% margin for Corinth (Corinth Pipeworks Pipe Industry v. United States, CIT # 22-00063).

Separate rate antidumping duty respondent Dalian Hualing Wood moved for judgment, arguing that the Commerce Department violated the law when it carried out a bona fide analysis of Dalian, the company said in its June 22 motion. Commerce compounded the error by treating Hualing's sale as non-bona fide in the AD review while treating it as bona fide in the CVD review, Hualing said. "The same sale cannot be bona fide in one proceeding and not the other -- statutory criteria apply to both ADD and CVD proceedings" (Dalian Hualing Wood Co. v. U.S., CIT # 22-00334).

The Court of International Trade on June 23 upheld the Commerce Department's decision not to collapse exporter Prosperity Tieh Enterprise Co. with the already-collapsed entity of Yieh Phui Enterprise Co. and Synn Industrial Co. as part of the antidumping duty investigation on corrosion-resistant steel products from Taiwan.

No lawsuits were recently filed at the Court of International Trade.

Importer Nature's Touch Frozen Foods (West) will appeal a May Court of International Trade decision concerning the classification of 14 types of frozen fruit mixtures. According to the June 23 notice of appeal, Nature's Touch will take the case to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. In the suit, Judge Stephen Vaden said all of the mixture types, five of which contain vegetable ingredients, should be set under Harmonized Tariff Schedule subheading 0811.90.80 as "other" frozen fruits, dutiable at 14.5% (see 2305260048) (Nature's Touch Frozen Foods (West) v. United States, CIT # 20-00131).

It was "not appropriate" for the Commerce Department to conclude that price differences between an Emirati exporter's sales across four quarters were due to differential pricing, several Emirati producers and exporters of circular welded carbon-quality steel pipe said in a June 22 complaint at the Court of International Trade (Universal Tube and Plastic Industries v. U.S., CIT # 23-00113).