The Court of International Trade in a Dec. 21 opinion sent back the Commerce Department's fourth remand results in a case on the antidumping duty investigation of hardwood plywood from China. For the fifth time, Judge Jennifer Choe-Groves sent back Commerce's calculation of the all-others rate, which the agency determined by averaging a de minimis and an adverse facts available rate. The judge said "Commerce created its own problem" by selecting only two respondents, resulting in "sparse information" to back its assertions.
The Court of International Trade in a Dec. 21 opinion denied U.S. Steel's motion to intervene in a case brought by Seneca Foods over the Commerce Department's denial of Section 232 exclusion requests. The trade court cited the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit's decision in California Steel Industries v. U.S. in which the appellate court denied U.S. Steel the right to intervene in a different Section 232 exclusion denial challenge. Judge Gary Katzmann ruled that the precedent establishes that the steelmaker does have the right to intervene under the trade court's rules.
The Court of International Trade in a Dec. 20 opinion denied an injunction bid pending appeal from certain plaintiffs in a conflict-of interest suit. After recently rejecting the plaintiffs' motion for a preliminary injunction for lack of subject matter jurisdiction, Judge Gary Katzmann this time rejected the injunction motion pending appeal since the appeal to the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit "has not yet been noticed," but even if it had, the injunction "is unwarranted." Katzmann said the plaintiffs fail to both show a "strong showing of success on the merits" and prove that they will suffer irreparable harm without the injunction. The case was brought by Amsted Rail Co. to contest its former counsel's alleged ethical violations via its use of the company's confidential information in an antidumping and countervailing duty injury proceeding.
The Court of International Trade in a pair of Dec. 16 opinions upheld the Commerce Department's decisions to exclude importers Worldwide Door Components' and Columbia Aluminum Products' door thresholds from the scope of the antidumping and countervailing duty orders on aluminum extrusions from China. After previously remanding the decision for not being submitted in a form that was judicially reviewable, Judge Timothy Stanceu said that this time around the agency has made a scope decision "in a form the court is able to sustain."
The Court of International Trade on Dec. 19 ruled that the Commerce Department improperly excluded certain solar cell sales from antidumping respondent Inventec Solar Energy Corp.'s (ISEC's) dumping margin based on its finding that ISEC did not have any actual or constructive knowledge that its goods would ultimately end up in the United States. Judge Leo Gordon said that given "the totality of the record, the court cannot sustain as reasonable" the finding that ISEC did not have actual knowledge of the solar cells' destination.
The Court of International Trade for the second time upheld the Commerce Department's use of adverse facts available in a countervailing duty case based on the Chinese government's failure to submit information about the Export Buyer's Credit Program. Judge Timothy Reif in a Dec. 8 opinion made public Dec. 16 said information about participating banks was vital enough to Commerce's efforts to verify non-use of the program that the refusal to provide the information justified the use of AFA. The court differentiated the case from another countervailing duty proceeding in which Commerce verified non-use without the requested information, finding in the other case the agency had non-use certifications from the respondent's U.S. customers -- something they did not have in the present case.
The Court of International Trade dismissed a case seeking the release of goods excluded over forced labor concerns without plaintiff Virtus Nutrition's proposed condition that CBP allow the goods to be re-exported. Judge Timothy Reif said the temporary storage agreement under which the goods are currently being held does not give a basis to include the proposed stipulation. Virtus "retains recourse" to address its concern that CBP can seize the goods rather than allow their exportation, Reif said.
The Court of International Trade in a Dec. 12 opinion dismissed a lawsuit from importer MS Solar on the Commerce Department's liquidation instructions issued after an antidumping duty administrative review for lack of subject-matter jurisdiction. Tossing the case without prejudice, Judge Jennifer Choe-Groves said the case, which was filed under Section 1581(i) -- the court's "residual" jurisdiction -- could not stand because relief would have been available under Section 1581(c). The judge said the "underlying issue in this case is an error" that affected the final results and not Commerce's liquidation instructions.
The Court of International Trade in a Dec. 8 opinion upheld the Commerce Department's remand results in a case on the administrative review of the antidumping duty order on circular welded carbon-quality steel pipe from the United Arab Emirates. On remand, Commerce granted plaintiff Universal Tube and Plastic Industries a level of trade adjustment -- a move which no parties in the case contested.
The Court of International Trade in a Dec. 8 opinion upheld the Commerce Department's remand results in a case on the 2016 administrative review of the countervailing duty order on narrow woven ribbons with woven selvedge from China. Judge Timothy Stanceu said that Commerce properly dropped its imposition of CV duties on plaintiff Yama Ribbons and Bows Co. for China's Export Buyer's Credit Program and that the agency fixed errors found by the court in the case's last opinion related to Commerce's analysis of the provision of synthetic yarn and caustic soda below cost. On remand, the agency further explained that the provision of these two items for less than adequate remuneration met the specificity requirement of the law.