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CIT Strays From Precedent, Says Commerce Properly Used AFA Over Lack of Information on China's EBCP

The Court of International Trade in a Sept. 13 opinion found the Commerce Department reasonably used adverse facts available in a countervailing duty case related to the Chinese government's failure to submit certain information about the Export Buyer's Credit Program.…

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Marking a clear departure from the trade court's numerous past rulings on the subject, Judge M. Miller Baker said Commerce reasonably explained why it needed the information from the Chinese government to verify that the respondents and their U.S. customers did not use the EBCP. The judge further sided with the U.S. over its positions that acrylic polymer can be used as a stand-alone primer and that the agency can average all freight routes to establish a world market benchmark for ocean freight.