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 Commerce Department failed to adequately support its decision in a scope referral to exclude certain carbon steel butt-weld pipe fittings made from Chinese fittings that underwent production in Vietnam from the scope of the antidumping duty order on carbon steel butt-weld pipe fittings from China, the Court of International Trade held on Dec. 16.

The Commerce Department reasonably found that a certain Moroccan tax subsidy isn't de facto specific, since it's widely available throughout the economy, the Court of International Trade held on Dec. 16. Judge Timothy Stanceu sustained Commerce's reversal of its specificity determination made on remand in a case on the 2020-21 review of the countervailing duty order on Moroccan phosphate fertilizer.

The Commerce Department misapplied its regulations regarding the filing of ministerial error allegations during an antidumping duty administrative review, the Court of International Trade held on Dec. 15. Judge Timothy Stanceu said Commerce erred in only allowing the petitioner in an AD review to raise ministerial error allegations regarding the final results that couldn't have been raised in the petitioner's case brief, finding that this cut against the "express requirement of Section 751(h)."

Three wildlife advocacy groups urged the Court of International Trade to compel the U.S. to comply with its settlement agreement with the groups by requiring the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) to bar the importation of fish and fish products from all harvesting nations that don't meet Marine Mammal Protect Act (MMPA) standards (Natural Resources Defense Council v. Howard Lutnick, CIT # 24-00148).

The Court of International Trade denied a group of importers' motion for a preliminary injunction against liquidation of their entries subject to tariffs imposed under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act on the basis that the trade court has the power to order reliquidation of the entries if the Supreme Court strikes down the IEEPA tariffs.

The Court of International Trade on Dec. 12 denied the government's motion for reconsideration of the trade court's previous decision to vacate CBP's finding that Dominican exporter Kingtom Aluminio made its aluminum extrusions with forced labor. Although Judge Timothy Reif said he made a mistake of fact in the initial decision, the mistake was a "harmless error," and that no mistake of law was made.

The U.S. on Dec. 11 filed its opposition to a motion for a preliminary injunction in dozens of cases filed by Crowell & Moring seeking refunds of tariffs imposed under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (AGS Company Automotive Solutions v. United States, CIT Consol. # 25-00255).

Attorneys at Crowell & Moring asked the Court of International Trade on Dec. 11 for a hearing regarding its motion for a preliminary injunction in its lead case seeking refunds from tariffs imposed under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (AGS Company Automotive Solutions v. United States, CIT # 25-00255).

The Court of International Trade "rewrote" a precedential decision from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit and "effectively nullified" three AD/CVD orders on magnesia carbon bricks (MCBs) from China when it held that MCBs that contain any amount of alumina are excluded from the orders, the Magnesia Carbon Bricks Fair Trade Committee said (Fedmet Resources v. United States, Fed. Cir. # 26-1160).