The Court of International Trade in a June 13 decision made public June 24 said the Commerce Department properly found that Aussie exporter BlueScope Steel (AIS) didn't reimburse its affiliated importer BlueScope Steel Americas (BSA) for antidumping duties. Sustaining the second review of the AD order on hot-rolled steel flat products from Australia, Judge Richard Eaton said that Commerce also properly declined to make a "standalone deduction" from the constructed export price for "profit resulting from the further manufacture of the steel in the United States."
Customs Duty
A Customs Duty is a tariff or tax which a country imposes on goods when they are transported across international borders. Customs Duties are used to protect countries' economies, residents, jobs, and environments, by limiting the flow of imported merchandise, especially restricted and prohibited goods, into the country. The Customs Duty Rate is a percentage determined by the value of the article purchased in the foreign country and not based on quality, size, or weight.
Importer Vecoplan on June 17 dismissed one of its customs cases at the Court of International Trade regarding the classification of its grinding machines (Vecoplan v. United States, CIT # 20-00106).
Akin Gump attorneys elected Abid Qureshi and Daniel Walsh as co-chairs of the firm, starting their run on April 1, 2025, the firm announced. The pair will replace Kim Koopersmith, who has held the chair spot since 2013. Qureshi's portfolio centers on financial restricting, while Walsh's practice centers on international and U.S. public and private debt and equity acquisitions, Akin said. Akin's international trade practice advises clients on customs, antidumping and countervailing duty complaints, export controls, economic sanctions, World Trade Organization dispute resolution and more.
The Customs Rulings Online Search System (CROSS) was updated June 5-14 with the following headquarters rulings (ruling revocations and modifications will be detailed elsewhere in a separate article as they are announced in the Customs Bulletin):
Washington state importer Tip the Scale, doing businesses as L & D Kitchen and Bath, pleaded guilty and was sentenced on June 14 for "making false declarations" on the "species and harvest location" of timber it used in its wooden cabinets and vanities, DOJ announced.
The Court of International Trade on June 12 granted two companies' motions for voluntary dismissal in an antidumping and countervailing duty injury case and a customs case. One case, brought by exporter Adisseo Espana, contested the International Trade Commission's final determination finding that methionine from Spain and Japan injured the U.S. industry. The other, brought by importer AVA Industries, contested CBP's classification of multimedia players without screens. Neither company commented on the reasons for the dismissals (Adisseo Espana v. United States, CIT # 21-00562) (AVA Enterprises v. United States, CIT # 20-00123).
A tire importer opposed a motion to dismiss its case for lack of jurisdiction June 7, arguing that the Court of International Trade could preside because CBP had made a relevant protestable decision -- the decision to delay an admissibility determination (Inspired Ventures, LLC v. U.S., CIT # 24-00062).
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in a June 7 order affirmed the Court of International Trade's decision to sustain the Commerce Department's use of antidumping duty respondent Z.A. Sea Food's (ZASF's) Vietnamese sales to calculate normal value in an AD review on Indian frozen warmwater shrimp. The unanimous order from Judges Alan Lourie, Raymond Clevenger and Todd Hughes was issued without an accompanying opinion.
Antidumping duty respondent Salzgitter Mannesmann Grobblech told the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in a reply brief last week that the U.S. and petitioners Nucor Corp. and SSAB Enterprises failed to adequately defend the Commerce Department's use of adverse facts available against the respondent in the AD investigation on carbon and alloy steel cut-to-length plate from Germany (AG der Dillinger Huttenwerke v. U.S., Fed. Cir. # 24-1219).
The Court of International Trade on June 4 dismissed a customs classification suit on kids' erasable e-writing tablets from China following importer Kent Displays' notice of dismissal. The notice came after the importer lost a similar case at the trade court, which saw the government prevail in claiming that the tablets fit under Harmonized Tariff Schedule heading 8543, which has a 2.6% duty rate (see 2405090037). In the separate case, Kent was freed from having to pay Section 301 duties on its imports since they didn't cover the tablets at the time of entry (Kent Displays v. United States, CIT # 20-03803).