The U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia on July 18 stayed two importers' case against the legality of tariffs imposed under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, pending the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit's consideration of the appeal (Learning Resources v. Donald J. Trump, D.D.C. # 25-01248).
The Court of International Trade in a confidential July 21 decision remanded the Commerce Department's final results in the 2021-22 administrative review of the antidumping duty order on aluminum foil from China. Judge Claire Kelly said she intends to issue a public version of the decision on or shortly after July 25. The case was brought by various exporters to challenge Commerce's primary surrogate country choice of Romania in the review, along with the agency's selection of specific surrogate value data for various inputs (Jiangsu Dingsheng New Materials Joint-Stock Co. v. U.S., CIT # 23-00264).
Section 338 hasn't been implicitly repealed, and President Donald Trump's tariffs imposed under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act can also be upheld under Section 338, the Trump-aligned legal advocacy group America First Policy Institute argued in a proposed amicus reply brief at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. Responding to arguments against its position from the 12 U.S. states and five importers challenging the IEEPA tariffs and another amicus brief filed by various legal scholars and former government officials, the institute argued that the states and amicus didn't offer any support for many of their claims (V.O.S. Selections v. Donald J. Trump, Fed. Cir. # 25-1812).
Court of International Trade Judge Joseph Laroski held July 21 that importer Hanon Systems’ aluminum foil originated from China, not South Korea, sustaining a Commerce Department decision that analyzed the five mandatory factors in a country-of-origin analysis and found only two weighed in favor of China.
The Court of International Trade on July 22 sustained the Commerce Department's 2020-21 review of the countervailing duty order on common alloy aluminum sheet from India. Judge Joseph Laroski said Commerce's decisions to find that the provision of coal for less than adequate remuneration was de facto specific and to use U.N. Comtrade data as a benchmark in measuring the coal subsidy were supported by substantial evidence. The agency's specificity finding rested on the fact that respondent Hindalco, "like a typical utility provider, engages in 'power generation,'" and that two "power" industries "appear to use a substantial majority of the coal provided by" India's state-run coal supplier, Coal India.
The U.S. filed its reply brief in the lead case on the legality of President Donald Trump's tariffs imposed under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, arguing, among other things, that the Court of International Trade doesn't have the power to issue a nationwide injunction vacating the tariffs and that IEEPA plainly allows the president to impose tariffs (V.O.S. Selections v. Donald J. Trump, Fed. Cir. # 25-1812).
The following lawsuits were filed recently at the Court of International Trade:
The U.S. pushed back July 16 against exporter Soc Trang Seafood Joint Stock Co.’s challenge to the Commerce Department’s surrogate value calculation of Vietnamese land rental prices in a countervailing duty review (see 2501270012). The government said Commerce’s use of Thai data was supported by substantial evidence (Soc Trang Seafood Joint Stock Co. v. United States, CIT # 25-00030).
Domestic chlorinated isocyanurates producer Bio-Lab argued in a July 15 motion for judgment that the Commerce Department should have used Mexico, not Romania, as the primary surrogate in an antidumping duty review of chlorinated isocyanurates from China (Bio-Lab v. United States, CIT # 25-00054).
The Court of International Trade on July 18 denied importer Simplified's motion to reconsider the court's decision to stay the company's case against tariffs imposed under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act pending the appeal of the lead IEEPA tariff case, V.O.S. Selections v. Trump (Emily Ley Paper, d/b/a Simplified v. Donald J. Trump, CIT # 25-00096).