The Court of International Trade sustained the Commerce Department's remand results in a Feb. 26 confidential order in a case on the antidumping duty investigation on raw honey from Argentina. In a letter to the parties, Judge Claire Kelly said it's her intention to issue a public version of the opinion on or shortly after March 5, giving the parties until March 4 to review the confidential information. In the remand results, Commerce continued to use respondent Nexco's acquisition costs as a proxy for the cost of production of beekeeper supplies (see 2310130049). The agency also struck by its decision to compare Nexco's U.S. sale prices with normal values based on Nexco's third-country sale prices to Germany on a monthly basis instead of a quarterly basis (Nexco v. U.S., CIT # 22-00203).

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

After a second remand, the Commerce Department said Feb. 22 that despite conducting a previously impossible on-site verification of the sole mandatory respondent for an AD investigation on forged steel fittings from India, its negative finding remained unchanged (Bonney Forge Corporation v. U.S., CIT #20-03837).

Parties on the defendants’ side in two cases Feb. 21 opposed a motion of joinder in separate briefs, saying that, although both were litigating claims against an affirmative International Trade Commission injury determination in antidumping and countervailing duty investigations on Mexican and Chinese rail couplers, their cases raise “unique” legal issues with little crossover (Amsted Rail Ind. v. U.S., CIT # 23-00268; Wabtec Corp. v. U.S., CIT # 23-00157).

The Commerce Department reversed its use of Descartes ocean freight data in various subsidy calculations on remand in a case on the 2021 countervailing duty review of crystalline silicon photovoltaic products from China. Instead of using an average of Descartes and Xeneta data, the agency said it decided to solely use the Xeneta in response to concerns raised by the Court of International Trade (Trina Solar (Changzhou) Science & Technology Co. v. U.S., CIT # 23-00219).

No lawsuits have been filed recently at the Court of International Trade.

Judge Lisa Wang, confirmed to the Court of International Trade on Feb. 1, was assigned to her first case at the trade court. The matter was reassigned to Wang after Judge Stephen Vaden recused himself since his former law clerk appeared in the action (see 2402120046). The case was brought by the American Kitchen Cabinet Alliance to challenge CBP's determination in an Enforce and Protect Act proceeding that importer Scioto Valley Woodworking didn't evade the antidumping and countervailing duty orders on wooden cabinets from China (see 2401230073) (American Kitchen Cabinet Alliance v. United States, CIT # 23-00140).

Importer Sterling Products, doing business as Auxiliaries Group, voluntarily dismissed its customs suit at the Court of International Trade on its chillers and parts of shredders and granulators. CBP classified the chillers under Harmonized Tariff Schedule subheading 8418.69.0180, along with Section 301 duties under secondary subheading 9903.88.01, and the parts of shredders and granulators under subheading 8479.90.9496, along with Section 301 duties under secondary subheading 9903.88.01. The importer said the goods are free of the Section 301 duties under secondary subheadings 9903.88.10 and 9903.88.07, respectively (Sterling Products d/b/a ACS Auxiliaries Group v. U.S., CIT # 20-03877).

The U.S. District Court for the District of Alaska on Feb. 8 approved a settlement between shipping companies Kloosterboer International Forwarding and Alaska Reefer Management and CBP and DOJ in the companies' suit against Jones Act penalties levied against them. The settlement's terms will see KIF and ARM pay $9.5 million, much less than the over $400 million sought by CBP for the Jones Act violations (Kloosterboer International Forwarding v. U.S., D. Alaska # 3:21-00198).

The following lawsuits were recently filed at the Court of International Trade: