The Commerce Department swapped its use of partial adverse facts available for partial neutral facts available for antidumping duty respondent Shanghai Tainai Bearing Co. after admitting that it isn't able to determine whether Tainai has "sufficient control over its suppliers to induce their cooperation" (Shanghai Tainai Bearing Co. v. United States, CIT # 22-00038).

The Court of International Trade in a Jan. 5 opinion made public Jan. 16 sustained the Commerce Department's remand results reversing the use of adverse facts available against exporter Oman Fasteners for filing submitted 16 minutes late. The result is a zero percent margin for the company as part of the sixth antidumping review on steel nails from Oman. Judge M. Miller Baker upheld Commerce's use of Oman Fasteners' quarterly costs and not annual costs in calculating the company's cost of production, as well as its decision not to deduct Section 232 steel and aluminum duties from the U.S. price for all of Oman's entries.

Home Depot on Jan. 10 dropped its lawsuit in the Court of International Trade challenging the president's authority to expand Section 232 national security tariffs beyond procedural deadlines. The U.S. Supreme Court this week denied a petition for writ of certiorari from steel nail maker Oman Fasteners, marking the sixth time the court has declined to address whether President Donald Trump legally expanded Section 232 duties on steel and aluminum derivatives (see 2401080037). Counsel for Home Depot confirmed in an email that its case was abandoned following the Supreme Court's most recent rejection (Home Depot USA v. U.S., CIT # 22-00014).

An Indian stainless steel flanges exporter sought Jan. 8 to have the Court of International Trade reconsider part of its opinion upholding the company’s adverse facts available antidumping duty rate from the 2018-19 administrative review on its products (Kisaan Die Tech Private Ltd. v. U.S., CIT Consol. # 21-00512).

The "low standard of proof" that the Forced Labor Enforcement Task Force used in adding exporter Ninestar Corp. to the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act Entity List violates the requirements of UFLPA as written in the statute, Ninestar argued in a Jan. 10 supplemental brief at the Court of International Trade (Ninestar Corp. v. U.S., CIT # 23-00182).

Exporters Carbon Activated Tianjin Co. and Carbon Activated Corp. on Jan. 9 dismissed their appeal of the Commerce Department's final results of the 2021-22 administrative review of the antidumping duty order on activated carbon from China. Carbon Activated is pursuing other cases at the trade court and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit regarding prior reviews of the AD order (see 2311080037). No reason was given for the voluntary dismissal (Carbon Activated Tianjin Co. v. U.S., CIT # 23-00266).

The Commerce Department is set to lower the countervailing duty for two Chinese solar cell exporters, removing adverse facts available rates for certain programs and changing several cost calculation methods, it said in remand results filed with the Court of International Trade (Risen Energy Co. v. U.S., CIT # 22-00231).

On Jan. 8, the U.S. moved to dismiss an importer’s claim contesting CBP's decision to liquidate nine of its picture frame moulding entries, saying the Court of International Trade lacks subject matter jurisdiction to hear the case because the liquidations were related to the importer's prior disclosure (Larson-Juhl US v. U.S., CIT # 23-00032).

The U.S. defended its right not to turn over parts of the administrative record in a case on the decision to add exporter Ninestar Corp. to the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act Entity List, saying that the record is protected by the "informer's privilege" or is "law-enforcement sensitive" (Ninestar Corp. v. U.S., CIT # 23-00182).

President Joe Biden renewed the nominations of Joseph Laroski and Lisa Wang to the Court of International Trade after the original nominations were returned to the president due to inaction in the full Senate. The Senate Judiciary Committee in September approved the nominations of Wang, assistant secretary of commerce for enforcement and compliance, and Laroski, partner at Schagrin Associates, with votes of 12-9 and 18-3, respectively (see 2309140054). When forwarded for Senate confirmation, no action was taken in 2023.