Plaintiffs in the massive ongoing Section 301 litigation "ignore" the president's role in imposing the China tariffs, the U.S. said last week, arguing that the thousands of companies leading the case would have the court impose an improper standard of review (HMTX Industries v. United States, Fed. Cir. # 23-1891).
Court of International Trade activity
Exporter Jilin Bright Future Chemicals Co. failed to raise arguments on the surrogate value of bituminous coal in an antidumping duty review, the Court of International Trade ruled Dec. 21. Judge Mark Barnett said that despite Jilin Bright's argument, "this case fits squarely into the classic administrative exhaustion paradigm."
The nominations to fill two judicial vacancies at the Court of International Trade were returned to President Joe Biden after the full Senate chamber didn't move to approve the two nominees within the calendar year. The nominations, Lisa Wang, assistant secretary of commerce for enforcement and compliance, and Joseph Laroski, partner at Schagrin Associates, were approved by the Judiciary Committee in September with votes of 12-9 and 18-3, respectively (see 2309140054). Wang faced greater scrutiny from Republicans on the Judiciary Committee, being subjected to questions about comments she made as an undergraduate student regarding "liberal hypocrisy," a term used by a Republican senator in characterizing a specifc comment he questioned (see 2307270043). Wang's and Laroski's nominations sat untouched following their approval from the Judiciary Committee. Biden will have the opportunity to renew their nominations in the new year.
CBP can't extend liquidation without giving a reason, a solar panel company argued at the Court of International Trade Dec. 14 (Greentech Energy Solutions v. U.S., CIT Consol. # 23-00118.)
The government's claim that a group of Canadian softwood lumber exporters shouldn't be able to intervene in an antidumping duty case is based on "an unreasonably narrow, absurd, and constitutionally problematic reading of" the statute on parties entitled to participate in civil actions, the exporters argued (Government of Canada v. United States, CIT Consol. # 23-00187).
The Court of International Trade sustained the Commerce Department's use of total adverse facts available against antidumping respondent Saffron Living Co. after the company withdrew from the case on remand. Sustaining the 760% AD rate against the company in the investigation on mattresses from Thailand, Judge M. Miller Baker said the remand results are upheld since no remaining party contests the mark. The case was on remand so Commerce could attempt to verify data from Saffron, though this became impossible after Saffron withdrew from the proceeding.
The Court of International Trade on Dec. 21 sustained the Commerce Department's continued rejection of exporter AG der Dillinger Huttenwerke's proposed quality code for sour service pressure vessel plate. Upholding Commerce's fourth remand results in the antidumping duty investigation on carbon and alloy steel cut-to-length plate from Germany, Judge Leo Gordon said Dillinger didn't make the "requisite showing to demonstrate that reconsideration is appropriate here" after the court already rejected the claim.
The International Trade Commission asked the Court of International Trade to temporarily redact its decision sustaining an injury determination on mattresses since the commission believes there to be business proprietary information in the opinion that may need to be redacted (CVB v. United States, CIT # 21-00288).
The Court of International Trade on Dec. 21 sustained the Commerce Department's fourth remand results in a case on an antidumping investigation into carbon and alloy steel cut-to-length plate from Germany. Judge Leo Gordon noted that the court already rejected exporter AG der Dillinger Huttenwerke's argument that Commerce improperly rejected the company's proposed quality code for sour service pressure vessel plate, adding that Dillinger didn't properly show reconsideration of the issue is "appropriate." The judge also rejected petitioner Nucor's challenge to the adjustment to the model match methodology to include a separate quality code for sour transport plate in calculating Dillinger's margin.
The Commerce Department made no changes to the final results of its countervailing duty administrative review on exporters of South Korean carbon and alloy steel cut-to-length plate, after a second remand in a case challenging the results of the 2018 review (Nucor Corporation v. U.S., CIT # 21-00182).