The Court of International Trade issued two similar opinions remanding the Commerce Department's decision for a second time to include Worldwide Door Components' and Columbia Aluminum Products' "door thresholds" within the scope of the antidumping duty and countervailing duty orders on aluminum extrusions from China. Finding that Commerce's remand in both cases relies on facts or inferences contradicted by other evidence and unsupported by any specific evidence, Judge Timothy Stanceu told the agency to go back to the drawing board on its scope rulings. Commerce must determine whether the finished merchandise exclusion applies to Worldwide and Columbia's door thresholds, the court said.
Court of International Trade activity
The following lawsuits were recently filed at the Court of International Trade:
Kumho Tire (Vietnam) Co. filed a complaint with the Court of International Trade challenging the Commerce Department's finding that a countervailable subsidy existed in the form of Vietnam's currency manipulation practices (Kumho Tire (Vietnam) Co., Ltd. v. United States, CIT #21-00397). KTV was a respondent in the CVD investigation of passenger vehicle and light truck tires from Vietnam. In Commerce's final determination, KTV got hit with a 7.89% subsidy rate. In the complaint, KTV challenged three parts of this final determination, which include the finding that KTV got a countervailable benefit through its land-use rights, "even though Plaintiff’s acquisition of such rights pre-dated Vietnam’s accession to the World Trade Organization," through Vietnam's currency practices and through Vietnam's import-duty exemptions program for imported inputs used in exported products
The Commerce Department's alleged misinterpretation of a 2013 Section 129 determination that partially revoked an antidumping duty order on Shantou Red Garden Food Processing (Shantou RGFP) has the company facing millions of dollars in antidumping duty liability, Shantou RGFP said in a Sept. 3 reply brief at the Court of International Trade. Due to a misspelling that Commerce refuses to correct, Shantou RGFP found itself participating in an administrative review and being assigned an antidumping duty cash deposit rate even though it was previously found to be outside of the order, the company said (Shantou Red Garden Food Processing Co., Ltd. et al v. U.S., CIT # 20-03947).
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit filed its mandates on Sept. 9 in two nearly identical Court of International Trade cases, following a decision from the appellate court two months earlier. In the case, the Federal Circuit upheld CIT's denial of CSC Sugar's challenge to a 2020 amendment to an antidumping suspension agreement on sugar from Mexico, in a July 19 ruling (see 2107190038) (CSC Sugar LLC v. United States, CIT #16-00016 and #20-00017).
The Commerce Department dropped a particular market situation adjustment from a sales-below-cost test in an antidumping duty investigation, in its remand results filed at the Court of International Trade, concurrent with a court decision instructing it to do so. The agency maintains that a PMS existed for South Korean steel inputs but concedes that the court's interpretation of the law does not permit an adjustment to the cost of production for the PMS in the sales-below-cost test. The remand rate dropped for mandatory respondent Hyundai Steel Co. from 30.85% to 12.92% and for non-examined respondent SeAH Steel Corp. from 19.28% to 9.99% (Hyundai Steel Co. v. United States, CIT Consol. #18-00154).
Plaintiff Nucor Corp. ignored the "thorough explanation" that the Commerce Department gave in its remand results showing how the agency conducted its less-than-adequate remuneration (LTAR) analysis regarding the electricity market in South Korea, the U.S. said in a Sept. 7 reply brief. Further backing its remand at the Court of International Trade, the Department of Justice argued that Commerce's remand complies with the mandate issued by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit by properly analyzing whether the Korean Electricity Corp. (KEPCO) recovered its costs of production plus a profit (POSCO, et al. v. United States, CIT #17-00137).
SMA Surfaces, Inc., formerly known as Polarstone US, and Cheng Shin Rubber Ind. Co. each filed a complaint at the Court of International Trade challenging two different scope rulings on antidumping and countervailing duty orders. SMA challenged the Commerce Department's decision to not exclude three specific surface products from the AD/CVD orders on quartz surface products from China, while Cheng Shin appealed Commerce's decision to not exclude the company's light-truck spare tire models from the less-than-fair-value investigation into passenger vehicle and light truck tires from Taiwan (SMA Surfaces, Inc. (F/K/A Polarstone US) v. U.S., CIT #21-00399) (Cheng Shin Rubber Ind. Co. Ltd. v. U.S., CIT #21-00398).
The Commerce Department continued to apply adverse facts available relating to the agency's inability to verify two mandatory respondents' non-use of China's Export Buyers Credit Program in a countervailing duty case, despite lengthy remand instructions from the Court of International Trade. Answering a series of nine questions from Judge Timothy Reif, Commerce thoroughly explained why it continues to apply AFA on this critical issue absent further collaboration with the Chinese government, in its remand results. Likening the saga over the EBCP in the court to the film Groundhog Day, Reif sought an explanation from Commerce that would firmly answer the question of whether AFA was legitimately applied on the issue (Guizhou Tyre Co. Ltd. v. United States, CIT #19-00032).
The Justice Department should not be permitted an extension of time to respond to a complaint and file the administrative record in a Court of International Trade challenge of Commerce Department assessment instructions issued for hot-rolled steel imported by Optima Steel International, the steel distributor said in a Sept. 7 filing, adding it is "extremely frustrated" with another request for delay. The defendant's request should be denied since it "requests far too much time to accomplish the tasks identified, and cites to no good cause other than a claim of internal deliberations that might yield a resolution," the brief said. Also, there's no reason DOJ can't answer the complaint and file the administrative record while the government discusses how to resolve the issues raised in the litigation, Optima argued. "The two are not mutually exclusive," it said (Optima Steel Internaitonal, LLC et al. v. U.S., CIT #21-00327).