Trade Law Daily is providing readers with the top stories from last week in case you missed them. All articles can be found by searching on the title or by clicking on the hyperlinked reference number.
Court of Federal Appeals Trade activity
The Court of International Trade overlooked the principle that the Commerce Department has the burden to support its use of the expected method in antidumping cases, importer PrimeSource Building Products argued in a reply brief at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. The non-selected respondent filed the suit to challenge Commerce's decision to weight average two adverse facts available rates when calculating the non-selected respondents' rate in an administrative review on steel nails from Taiwan (PrimeSource Building Products v. United States, Fed. Cir. # 22-2128).
Appellant and importer Smith-Cooper International asked the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit for 3,000 more words in its reply brief as part of a suit on scope case on Vandewater International's steel branch outlets. SCI said appellant Sigma Corp. and the U.S. consented to the request and that good cause exists to allow the company to use more words given the "voluminous nature of the Government’s response brief, covering numerous procedural issues and questions of law and fact." In its reply brief, the government most recently argued that SCI relies too much on industry terms to argue that the steel branch outlets in question are not butt-welded and aren't subject to the antidumping duty order on butt-weld pipe fittings from China (see 2304240058) (Vandewater International v. United States, Fed. Cir. # 23-1093).
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit again rejected the Coalition of Freight Coupler Producers' bid to redact 180 unique words in its reply brief in an attorney conflict-of-interest suit. Judge Alan Prost said most of the information the coalition is seeking to redact was made publicly available in the Court of International Trade proceeding, and said information relating to the terms of an engagement agreement the coalition sought to redact was "disclosed without objection" in importer Amsted Rail's opening and reply briefs (Amsted Rail Co. v. U.S., Fed. Cir. # 23-1355).
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit asked the government to respond to a petition for rehearing filed by steel importers led by PrimeSource Building Products on the appellate court's opinion upholding President Donald Trump's expansion of the Section 232 national security tariffs to steel "derivative" products. The court asked the U.S. to file a response on or before June 6. The rehearing motion argued that if the decision stands, the president "will enjoy unbounded legislative power to regulate foreign trade -- to take any action, at any time, targeting any imported product," so long as the commerce secretary makes a threat determination on the targeted product or any material used to make the product (see 2304260033) (PrimeSource Building Products v. U.S., Fed. Cir. # 21-2066).
The Court of International Trade should not have dismissed a case involving Commerce's cash deposit instructions to CBP after the 2019 administrative review of the antidumping duty order on softwood lumber products from Canada for lack of jurisdiction, J.D. Irving said in its May 22 brief at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (J.D. Irving Ltd. v. U.S., Fed. Cir. # 2023-1652).
Trade Law Daily is providing readers with the top stories from last week in case you missed them. All articles can be found by searching on the title or by clicking on the hyperlinked reference number.
The Court of International Trade upheld the Commerce Department's deduction of President Donald Trump's Section 232 steel and aluminum duties from an exporter's U.S. price in an antidumping duty proceeding. Judge Jane Restani said the issue had already been resolved by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in favor of Commerce. The judge's one-page opinion on the 2018-19 administrative review of the AD order on circular welded carbon steel standard pipe and tube products from Turkey is identical to two of the court's orders issued prior, concluding similar suits also brought by exporter Borusan Mannesmann on the 2019-20 and 2020-21 reviews of the AD order (see 2305160037) (Borusan Mannesmann Boru Sanayi ve Ticaret v. U.S., CIT # 21-00132).
A company unable to prove it has any entries for the purposes of obtaining a separate rate should not automatically be found to have no shipments and be rescinded from the review, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit ruled in a May 19 opinion. Though the appellate court found the government's claim that it is not required to rescind a review for a company with no entries unconvincing, Judges Timothy Dyk, Richard Linn and Raymond Chen said that Ningbo Qixin did not clear the bar for establishing no shipments, even though Commerce had rejected a separate rate for the company because it couldn't verify any entries.
Commerce misconstrued its own regulations when it ordered CBP to liquidate entries of Goodluck India's cold drawn mechanical tubing from India at a 33.7% adverse facts available antidumping duty rate derived from a subsequent court decision, rather than the zero percent rate that was actually in effect at the time of entry, the company said in a May 15 brief at the Court of International Trade (Goodluck India v. U.S., CIT # 22-00024).