The Commerce Department on Feb. 12 released a countervailing duty order on brass rod from India (C-533-916). The order sets permanent countervailing duties, which will remain in place unless revoked by Commerce in a sunset or changed circumstances review. Commerce will begin conducting annual administrative reviews, if requested, to determine final assessments of CV duties on importers and make changes to cash deposit rates.
The Commerce Department released its preliminary affirmative antidumping determination Feb. 12 that pea protein from China (A-570-154) is being sold in the U.S. at less than fair value. Commerce found “critical circumstances” for all Chinese companies, and will retroactively suspend liquidation and impose antidumping duty cash deposit requirements for all subject merchandise as of Nov. 15, 2023.
The Utah Commerce Department received backlash from the communications industry and other groups about age-verification methods proposed in rules for implementing the 2023 Utah Social Media Regulation Act. The department’s Consumer Protection Division last week sent us written comments received by its Feb. 5 deadline on October's proposed rules.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) and the Daily Wire and Federalist media outlets seek a preliminary injunction to block the State Department, Secretary of State Antony Blinken and five of his department colleagues from promoting or using censorship technology that targets Americans’ speech or the American press, said their motion Tuesday (docket 6:23-cv-00609) in U.S. District Court for Eastern Texas in Tyler. The plaintiffs will suffer irreparable harm absent the requested injunctive relief as a direct result of the defendants’ “ultra vires actions,” which have also “gravely violated,” and continue to violate, the media plaintiffs' First Amendment rights to freedom of speech and of the press, said the motion. They followed that up Wednesday with a separate motion to expedite discovery. Such expedited discovery is essential for the court to assess what "additional and tailored" preliminary injunctive relief is appropriate and necessary to fully address the details and scope of the defendants’ “ultra vires and unconstitutional conduct and to prevent further irreparable harm” to the plaintiffs, it said. The State Department, through its Global Engagement Center, “is actively intervening in the news-media market to limit the reach of, the circulation of, and render unprofitable, disfavored press outlets,” said the plaintiffs’ memorandum in support of the preliminary injunction. It’s doing so by funding the infrastructure, development, and marketing and promotion of censorship technology and private censorship enterprises “to covertly suppress speech of a segment of the American press,” it said. The government’s motion Monday for a 45-day deadline stay to answer the plaintiffs’ complaint gave the first indication that the plaintiffs intended to seek a preliminary injunction (see 2402070016).
The Commerce Department will soon impose antidumping duty cash deposit requirements on imports of pea protein from China, according to a fact sheet issued Feb. 8. The agency said it has made its preliminary determination in an ongoing AD duty investigation on Chinese pea protein, and will set AD duties ranging from 122.19% to 280.31% (111.65% to 269.77% as adjusted for cash deposit purposes) when it publishes that preliminary determination in the Federal Register. Pea protein from China already is subject to suspension of liquidation and cash deposit requirements for countervailing duty purposes (see 2312180049).
The Commerce Department is issuing antidumping and countervailing duty orders on gas-powered pressure washers from China (A-570-148/C-570-149). The orders, set for publication Feb. 12, set permanent antidumping and countervailing duties, which will remain in place unless revoked by Commerce in a sunset or changed circumstances review. Commerce will now begin conducting annual administrative reviews, if requested, to determine final assessments of AD/CVD on importers and make changes to cash deposit rates.
A listing of recent Commerce Department antidumping and countervailing duty messages posted on CBP's website Feb. 8, along with the case number(s) and CBP message number, is provided below. The messages are available by searching for the listed CBP message number at CBP's ADCVD Search page.
California’s Age-Appropriate Design Code Act, AB-2273, “is one of the most expansive efforts to censor online speech since the inception of the internet,” said NetChoice’s response brief Wednesday (docket 23-2969) in the 9th U.S. Circuit Appeals Court in the appeal of California Attorney General Rob Bonta (D) to reverse the preliminary injunction that blocks him from enforcing the statute (see 2312140003).
The State Department asks that the U.S. District Court for Eastern Texas in Tyler stay its Feb. 12 deadline for responding to the Dec. 6 complaint in which Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) and the Daily Wire and Federalist media outlets allege the State Department is running “one of the most egregious government operations to censor the American press” in the history of the U.S. (see 2312060043), said the government’s motion Monday (docket 6:23-cv-00609). Good cause exists to grant the requested 45-day stay, it said. The government understands the plaintiffs wouldn’t oppose a stay pending adjudication of their anticipated motions for a preliminary injunction and expedited discovery, said the motion. The government expects within seven days to file a motion to transfer that will raise “substantial threshold challenges to the propriety of venue” in the Eastern District of Texas. The primary bases of that motion are that Paxton, the sole plaintiff with any connection to the Eastern District of Texas, lacks Article III standing, and that the complaint alleges no events or omissions giving rise to the plaintiffs’ claims that occurred in Texas, it said. During the meet-and-confer that the parties held Monday afternoon, the plaintiffs indicated that they would oppose transfer and also informed the defendants, for the first time, that they intend to file motions for preliminary injunction and expedited discovery, said the motion. If granted, the motion to transfer would obviate the need for any further proceedings in this court, it said. A stay of the defendants’ deadlines will allow the court time to resolve the defendants’ soon-forthcoming motion to transfer before the parties proceed to briefing in this court, if necessary, on the merits of the plaintiffs’ claims and requests for a preliminary injunction and expedited discovery, said the motion. The complaint alleges that the State Department, through its Global Engagement Center, “is actively intervening” to render “disfavored” press outlets unprofitable by funding the marketing and promotion of “censorship technology and private censorship enterprises to covertly suppress speech of a segment of the American press.” Named as defendants are Secretary of State Antony Blinken and five of his State Department colleagues.
The Commerce Department published notices in the Federal Register Feb. 8 on the following AD/CV duty proceedings (any notices that announce changes to AD/CV duty rates, scope, affected firms or effective dates will be detailed in another ITT article):