The parties in a pair of countervailing duty suits asked the Court of International Trade to continue a stay in the cases pending the result of a separate action involving the same parties on whether the Commerce Department can countervail exporter KG Dongbu Steel Co.'s debt-to-equity restructurings. KG Dongbu, the U.S., petitioner Nucor Corp. and the South Korean government asked Judge Jennifer Choe-Groves to continue the stay pending the result of the lead action (KG Dongbu Steel Co. v. United States, CIT #s 23-00055, 24-00056).
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Foreign-trade zone goods become "importations" for duty drawback purposes when they are entered for consumption into the U.S. and not when they are admitted into an FTZ, importer King Maker Marketing told the Court of International Trade. Responding to the government's motion to dismiss the company's suit challenging the rejection of its duty drawback claims, King Maker said goods in an FTZ are considered to be outside the customs territory of the U.S., making the "date of importation" the date the goods were withdrawn from the FTZ (King Maker Marketing v. United States, CIT # 24-00134).
The Court of International Trade on Jan. 2 remanded the Commerce Department's finding in a covered merchandise referral excluding from the antidumping duty order on carbon steel butt-weld pipe fittings from China certain carbon steel butt-weld pipe fittings made using fittings from China that underwent subsequent production in Vietnam. Judge Jennifer Choe-Groves sent back Commerce's consideration of various (k)(1) sources, including the petition, declarations from domestic industry executives and a prior circumvention in which Commerce came to a contrary conclusion.
The following lawsuits were recently filed at the Court of International Trade:
The Commerce Department erred in finding that respondents Heze Huayi Chemical Co. and Juancheng Kangtai Chemical Co. cooperated to the best of their ability despite a failure to produce land-use purchase contracts in the 2021 review of the countervailing duty order on chlorinated isocyanurates from China, petitioners led by Bio-Lab argued (Bio-Lab v. U.S., CIT # 24-00118).
Importer Integlobal Forest failed to convincingly argue that the Enforce and Protect Act isn't a strict liability statute, petitioner Coalition for Fair Trade in Hardwood Plywood argued. The coalition said both the "plain language of the statute and the overall statutory context" show that Congress didn't mean to require culpability of an importer as a "prerequisite" to an affirmative evasion finding (American Pacific Plywood v. United States, CIT Consol. # 20-03914).
The Commerce Department unlawfully expanded the scope of the antidumping duty order on prestressed concrete steel wire strand from Mexico when it found that Mexican exporter Deacero circumvented the order, the company argued in a Dec. 27 complaint at the Court of International Trade. Deacero said Commerce erred in failing to address the company's claims that the agency and the International Trade Commission originally meant to exclude high-carbon steel wire from the scope of the order (Deacero v. U.S., CIT # 24-00212).
Exporter Pipe and Piling Supplies brought a complaint Dec. 27 against the Commerce Department’s administrative review of the antidumping duty order on large diameter welded pipe from Canada. The exporter, sole mandatory respondent for the review, disagreed with the department's application of total adverse facts available for the review, saying it cooperated to the best of its ability (Pipe and Piling Supplies v. United States, CIT # 24-00211).
The following lawsuits were recently filed at the Court of International Trade: