U.S. importer Houston Shutters on Oct. 16 told the Court of International Trade that the Commerce Department improperly declined to open a changed circumstances review to exclude wood shutter components from the scope of the antidumping and countervailing duty orders on wood moldings and millwork products from China. Filing a complaint at the trade court, Houston Shutters said Commerce bucked its statutory mandate that the agency "shall conduct a review" (Houston Shutters v. U.S., CIT # 24-00193)

A domestic trade group for catfish farmers brought a motion for judgment Oct. 15 before the Court of International Trade, arguing that the Commerce Department should have at least applied partial adverse facts available to a mandatory respondent in its 2020-21 review of frozen fish fillets from Vietnam (Catfish Farmers of America v. U.S., CIT # 24-00082).

The following lawsuit was recently filed at the Court of International Trade:

After the Court of International Trade remanded the 323.12% adverse facts available antidumping duty rate received by an Indian quartz countertop exporter that missed a 10 a.m. deadline by five hours during the COVID-19 pandemic (see 2405290065), all parties reached a settlement would see the exporter get a new rate of 3.58% (Cambria Co. v. U.S., CIT Consol. # 23-00007).

The Commerce Department improperly found that its off-grid solar charging modules didn't qualify for two exclusions to the antidumping and countervailing duty orders on solar cells from China, U.S. importer GameChange Solar Corp. argued Oct. 15. Filing a complaint at the Court of International Trade, GameChange said the agency illegally "disregarded, discounted, and mischaracterized contradictory information on the record including photographs submitted" by the importer (GameChange Solar Corp. v. United States, CIT # 24-00174).

In oral arguments Oct. 8, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit indicated that the plaintiff challenging an Enforce and Protect Act evasion finding whose entries have all already been liquidated was likely not going to succeed in reversing the dismissal of its case by the Court of International Trade (see 2208180045) (All One God Faith v. U.S., Fed. Cir. # 23-1078).

The Court of International Trade on Oct. 11 sustained the Commerce Department's remand results in a case on the antidumping duty investigation on polyester textured yarn from Indonesia that slashed exporter PT. Asia Pacific Fibers' AD rate from 26.07% to 9.2%. On remand, Commerce dropped its use of adverse facts available and relied on Asia Pacific's submitted information under protest.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit last week held that tire retailer Texas Truck Parts & Tire was the "beneficial owner" of tires imported by Chinese manufacturers and, as such, is liable for excise taxes on the imports (Texas Truck Parts & Tire v. United States, 5th Cir. # 23-20588).

Another plaintiff in a sprawling case regarding an affirmative circumvention finding for Vietnamese hardwood plywood added its own support Oct. 15 to its side’s second motion for judgment. It said that the unusual circumstances that led the Commerce Department to essentially conduct a review of 57 companies without a mandatory respondent were “the result of its own misguided decisions” (Shelter Forest International Acquisition v. U.S., CIT Consol. # 23-00144).

The following lawsuit was recently filed at the Court of International Trade: