The Court of International Trade on Oct. 10 sent back the Commerce Department's use of partial adverse facts available against exporter Nippon Steel for its failure to submit sales data from some of its U.S. affiliates in the third review of the antidumping duty order on hot-rolled steel flat products from Japan. Judge Stephen Vaden said Commerce failed to grapple with Nippon Steel's limitations under Japanese law to collect this data from its affiliates.
Exporter Can Tho Import Export Seafood Joint Stock Co. dismissed its appeal of the Commerce Department's 2021-22 review of the antidumping duty order on frozen fish fillets from Vietnam. The company brought the suit to contest Commerce's denial of the exporter's byproduct offsets for "fresh broken meat" and "fresh fish waste by-products" (see 2405140061). Can Tho also claimed that Commerce illegally liquidated some of its entries at the "punitive" Vietnam-wide rate instead of its own rate (Can Tho Import Export Seafood Joint Stock Co. v. United States, CIT # 24-00080).
The United States and an importer of a wearable blanket, similar to a Snuggie, again traded briefs Oct. 10 regarding admissibility of evidence; this time, they specifically covered the issue of whether a CBP employee could testify at an upcoming bench trial (Cozy Comfort Co. v. United States, CIT # 22-00173).
A U.S. steel producer joined the government (see 2409170033) Oct. 9 in defending a Commerce Department finding that the South Korean government’s provision of electricity at lower prices during off-peak hours was de facto specific to an exporter and that South Korea’s cap-and-trade program was countervailable (POSCO v. United States, CIT # 24-00006).
The Court of International Trade on Oct. 9 denied importer Retractable Technologies' motion to quash a prehearing deposition subpoena from the U.S. in the company's suit against the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative's 100% Section 301 rate hike on needles and syringes (Retractable Technologies v. U.S., CIT # 24-00185).
The Court of International Trade on Oct. 10 denied German paper exporter Koehler Oberkirch GmbH's bid to immediately appeal a prior decision from the court allowing service to be effected on the company's U.S. counsel. Judge Gary Katzmann said that an interlocutory appeal wouldn't "materially advance" and would actually delay the "ultimate termination of the litigation."
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit on Oct. 10 rejected a Canadian lumber exporter’s attempt to challenge the denial of a cash deposit rate under 28 U.S.C. 1581(i), saying the exporter was attempting "to use § 1581(i) to make an end run around the binational panel’s exclusive review."
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, dropping the AD rate for respondent PT. Asia Pacific Fibers TBK from 26.07% to 9.2%. On remand, Commerce allowed Asia Pacific to fix errors in its submissions. The respondent provided requested translations and a "narrative explanation of its reporting methodologies," allowing the agency to reconcile the company's sales and cost reporting. No party contested the result.
The Court of International Trade on Oct. 10 rejected the Commerce Department's use of partial adverse facts available against exporter Nippon Steel for failing to submit certain U.S. sales data from an affiliated buyer in the third review of the antidumping duty order on hot-rolled steel flat products from Japan. Judge Stephen Vaden said Commerce failed to grapple with the company's claim that Japanese law barred it from obtaining the information, undercutting the notion that Nippon Steel failed to act to the best of its ability in responding to the agency's requests. Vaden also sustained Commerce's deduction of Section 232 duties from Nippon Steel's U.S. price in the third, fourth and fifth reviews of the AD order, noting that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit has already sustained the agency's ability to take such action.
The Court of International Trade's CM/ECF system will undergo maintenance on Oct. 26 8 a.m. to 12 p.m. EDT, the court announced. The CM/ECF system will be unavailable during this time.