Melamine exporters led by Qatar Melamine Company brought suit against the Commerce Department March 28 contesting the department’s assignment of adverse facts available to its government-supplied water and electricity purchases (Qatar Melamine Company v. United States, CIT # 25-00053).
Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., called on the Senate to revoke what he called "the fake emergency" of drug smuggling and migration across the Canadian border, the pretext for imposing 25% tariffs on most Canadian goods and 10% tariffs on energy and potash fertilizer.
The International Trade Commission's "practice of automatically redacting questionnaire responses is unlawful," the Court of International Trade held on March 27. Judge Stephen Vaden held that the practice isn't in line with "statute, regulation, precedent, and common sense."
The Court of International Trade on March 27 held that the International Trade Commission's "practice of automatically redacting questionnaire responses" in injury proceedings is "unlawful." Judge Stephen Vaden held that the practice is "inconsistent with statute, regulation, precedent, and common sense." The judge said the practice leads to treating "publicly available information as confidential," treating the same information inconsistently based only on how the ITC obtained it, and impermissibly designating information as confidential unilaterally. Vaden went through various information dubbed confidential in an injury proceeding on phosphate fertilizers from Morocco and Russia, finding that all but one piece of it was improperly redacted.
The European Commission on March 24 began monitoring import volumes of ethylene and ammonia products, which are primarily used for fertilizer production and "industrial applications," in order to levy duties on the products should imports surge in the EU. The commission said it began the surveillance because of "evidence of a significant and potentially injurious increase in the EU market share of imports of the chemicals," which purportedly is the result of overcapacity in China and trade defense measures from a "growing number of countries." Specifically, the surveillance covers "imports of copolymers of ethylene and alpha olefin, urea containing more than 45% (by weight) of nitrogen and ammonium sulphate," and will be in place for three years.
When the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative asked for comments on policies that reduce U.S. exports, most agricultural trade associations -- and a few companies -- laid out their concerns about tariffs or sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) barriers that prevent their exports from reaching their potential.
Petitioner The Mosaic Company and exporter OCP again traded briefs at the Court of International Trade regarding a countervailing duty review on Moroccan-origin phosphate fertilizer. Each defended its own prior motion for judgment (see 2408120049) (The Mosaic Co. v. U.S., CIT Consol. # 23-00246).
From corporate giants to small companies, in farming, manufacturing and retail, Americans said tariffs on Canada and Mexico were damaging their businesses and driving up costs for customers.
The EU General Court on Feb. 26 rejected the sanctions delisting application of Aleksandra Melnichenko, wife of sanctioned Russian billionaire Andrey Melnichenko.
The EU General Court on Feb. 26 rejected the sanctions delisting application of Aleksandra Melnichenko, wife of sanctioned Russian billionaire Andrey Melnichenko.