The Commerce Department in Aug. 22 comments at the Court of International Trade urged acceptance of its remand results in which it verified that a countervailing duty respondent's U.S. customers did not use China's Export Buyer's Credit Program. Commerce said that since it complied with the court's order to verify the U.S. customers' claims that they did not use the EBCP and that no parties oppose the remand, the court should uphold the decision that dropped the CVD rate from 25.90% to 15.36% (Both-Well (Taizhou) Steel Fittings Co. v. United States, CIT #21-00166).

The Commerce Department erred when using adverse facts available over the reporting of various Malaysian inland freight data in antidumping duty respondent Euro SME's home market and U.S. sales databases, the respondent argued in an Aug. 19 brief at the Court of International Trade. Euro SME further railed against Commerce's use of AFA over the reporting of certain sales data kept in the normal course of business (Euro SME v. United States, CIT #22-00108).

The Commerce Department erred in rejecting food and vegetable processing giant Seneca Foods Corporation's requests for exclusions from Section 232 steel and aluminum tariffs, Seneca argued in an Aug. 19 complaint at the Court of International Trade. The vegetable canning company said that Commerce violated the Administrative Procedure Act by failing to meaningfully consider and explain its rejection of the exclusion requests (Seneca Foods Corporation v. United States, CIT #22-00243).

The Court of International Trade will put a temporary hold on liquidation of entries of aluminum extrusions imported by Kingtom Aluminio while it considers a preliminary injunction requested by a domestic industry group, it said in an Aug. 18 order (Aluminum Extrusions Fair Trade Committee v. United States, CIT # 22-00236).

The Court of International Trade on Aug. 18 granted the government’s request for a voluntary remand in an importer’s challenge to a CBP Enforce and Protect Act evasion finding on tri-bar floors imported in farrowing crates. DOJ had requested the remand a day earlier, seeking to add to the record of the EAPA proceeding a recent Commerce Department scope ruling that also found the tri-bar floors subject to the scope of antidumping and countervailing duty orders on steel grating from China (Ikadan System USA v. United States, CIT # 21-00592).

The Court of International Trade should uphold a "reasonable" final determination by the Commerce Department that oil country tubular goods made in Brunei and the Philippines from Chinese hot-rolled steel coils are circumventing antidumping and countervailing duties on OCTG from China, intervenors Welded Tube USA, Wheatland Tube Company, and Vallourec Star said in an Aug. 19 brief (HLDS (B) Steel v. United States, CIT #21-00638).

The Commerce Department should accept an exporter's evidence of entries to establish a separate rate in an antidumping duty case, or else conclude that it had no shipments and not review the company, the exporter, Ningbo Qixin, argued in an Aug. 18 reply brief to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (Canadian Solar International, et al. v. U.S., Fed. Cir. # 20-2162).

The following lawsuits were recently filed at the Court of International Trade:

The misclassification of 543 entries of metal lids was simple negligence, not a fraudulent scheme, importer Crown Cork & Seal said in its motion to dismiss parts of an amended government complaint. The motion asks the court to dismiss counts of fraud and gross negligence, leaving only the negligence count (United States v. Crown Cork & Seal, USA, CIT #21-00361).

The Commerce Department erred in its calculations when assigning countervailing duty rates in an administrative review on multilayered wood flooring from China, according to three separate complaints filed at the Court of International Trade. The complaints, all filed on Aug. 17, primarily challenge Commerce's findings of less than adequate remuneration (LTAR) in calculating duty rates and adverse facts applied to the government of China.