Russian and Swiss exporters Novolipetsk Steel Public Joint Stock Co. and NOVEX Trading (Swiss) SA will appeal an April 13 Court of International Trade decision to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, a June 14 notice of appeal said. The appeal comes after the exporters lost their challenge to the final determination in the 2017-18 antidumping administrative review of certain hot-rolled flat-rolled carbon-quality steel products from Russia. Judge Claire Kelly dismissed the plaintiffs' claims, saying they lacked standing because they had no entries during the period of review and didn't contend they were resellers of the subject merchandise (Novolipetsk Steel Public Joint Stock Co. et al. v. U.S., CIT #20-00031).
The Commerce Department will move the date of imposition of antidumping and countervailing duties on a subset of steel trailer wheels from China to the date of publication of the final determination in the investigation, rather than the date of the preliminary determination, it said a pair of remand results filed June 14. The Court of International Trade told Commerce May 18 to make the switch, finding that the agency did not provide proper notice of a scope change during the proceeding (see 2105180062). In two filings, one for the antidumping case and one for the countervailing duty case, Commerce said that it intends to issue instructions to CBP to exclude plaintiffs Trans Texas Tire and Zhejiang Jingu Co.'s entries of physical vapor deposition (PVD) chrome wheels entered between Feb. 25, 2019, and June 24, 2019, from the scope of the investigation (Trans Texas Tire, LLC v. United States, CIT #19-00188-00189).
The Commerce Department will reconsider its decision to reallocate the cost of production for antidumping administrative review respondent Nexteel Co.'s non-prime products to account for their losses when calculating constructed value, the Court of International Trade said in a June 7 ruling made public on June 15. Issuing her second remand in the case brought from steel producers Husteel Co. and Nexteel over the 2016-17 AD administrative review of welded line pipe from Korea, Judge Claire Kelly sustained all other determinations made by Commerce.
It could take two to three years to resolve the massive Section 301 litigation now before the Court of International Trade, especially since it’s “highly likely” the case will be appealed by whichever side loses, David Cohen, a trade expert with Sandler Travis, said on his law firm's webinar June 15. Roughly 3,800 importers are suing the government to declare the lists 3 and 4A tariffs on Chinese goods unlawful and get the money refunded.
Oral argument is scheduled for 10 a.m. on June 17 on a motion for a preliminary injunction to freeze liquidation of unliquidated entries from China with lists 3 or 4A tariff exposure in the ongoing litigation over the tariffs led by HMTX and Jasco at the Court of International Trade (see 2106140056). The public can listen through a dial-in audio feed by calling 1-855-244-8681, access code 172 077 0162. There is no need to register to listen to the proceeding, CIT said on its website.
The Court of International Trade sustained the Commerce Department's remand results in an administrative review of the antidumping duty order on circular welded carbon steel standard pipe and tube products from Turkey in a June 16 decision. The remand results brought Commerce's administrative review in line with the court's orders in a Feb. 17 opinion which told the agency to drop any particular market situation-related adjustments to the cost of production in the sales-below-cost test.
The Court of International Trade sustained the final results of the second administrative review of the antidumping duty order on steel nails from Oman, in a June 14 decision. Judge Richard Eaton held that there was substantial evidence to back the Commerce Department's decision to use a Japanese company's financial statement to determine constructed value profit and indirect selling expenses for mandatory respondent Oman Fasteners, as opposed to an Indian company's financial statement as favored by petitioner and plaintiff in the case, Mid Continent Steel & Wire.
President Donald Trump properly eliminated a tariff exemption for bifacial solar panels since a majority of the representatives of the domestic industry, by volume, filed a petition to remove the exemption, the Department of Justice said in a June 11 brief in the Court of International Trade. Responding to arguments from the Solar Energy Industries Association, the Justice Department contested the trade group's assertion that the withdrawal of the exemption was merely based on a "head count" (Solar Energy Industries Association et al. v. United States, CIT #20-03941).
A far-reaching legal challenge to Section 232 steel and aluminum tariffs brought by ME Global was stayed by the Court of International Trade pending an appeal of a related case in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, according to a June 14 stay order (ME Global, Inc. v. United States, CIT #20-00130) The Federal Circuit case, Universal Steel Products, Inc. v. United States, carries arguments similar to those in ME Global's case in that both claim that procedural requirements were ignored in President Donald Trump's expansion of the tariffs (see 2105250077).
CBP was wrong to exclude certain motor frame assemblies from entry to the U.S. as "drug paraphernalia" since the goods, which will be used to make a marijuana processing machine, are legal in the states of Washington and Nevada, importer Eteros Technologies USA said in a June 11 complaint in the Court of International Trade. Eteros claims that there is an exemption to the law that bans the import of drug paraphernalia when a person who is allowed by local, state or federal law to "manufacture, possess or distribute 'drug paraphernalia.'" CBP has consistently failed to recognize this exemption, Eteros said (Eteros Technologies USA, Inc. v. United States, CIT #21-00287).