The Commerce Department will reconsider its application of facts available in a countervailing duty review pursuant to its own voluntary remand request, the Court of International Trade ordered in an Aug. 27 decision. Judge Jennifer Choe-Groves said the remand was warranted since it will allow Commerce the opportunity to "cure its own mistakes and reconsider the substantive issues," raised by plaintiff and respondent Hyundai Steel Company.
Court of International Trade activity
The Commerce Department and the International Trade Commission published the following Federal Register notices Aug. 30 on AD/CV duty proceedings:
The following lawsuits were recently filed at the Court of International Trade:
The Court of International Trade remanded an antidumping case to the Commerce Department after the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit reversed the trade court's initial ruling in an Aug. 26 order. The Federal Circuit had on July 20 backed Commerce's initial decision to adjust a Turkish pipe exporter's post-sale price by only one-third of a late delivery penalty, finding that the adjustment was supported by substantial evidence (see 2107200038). CIT erred in leading Commerce to adjust the post-sale price by the entirety of the penalty cost since the customer was not aware of the methodology by which the amount of the penalty was to be determined. Commerce has 45 days to file the remand, and any objections can be filed 20 days after the redetermination submission (Borusan Mannesmann Boru Sanayi ve Ticaret A.S., et al. v. United States, CIT Consol. #19-00056).
The Commerce Department had more than half of the domestic industry's support when it considered an antidumping and countervailing duty petition, the Department of Justice said in an Aug. 26 reply brief at the Court of International Trade. Responding to a brief from consolidated plaintiff M S International (MSI), DOJ said that none of the company's arguments excuses “its failure to proffer evidence on the record sufficient to upset Commerce's industry support determination” (Pokarna Engineered Stone Ltd. v. U.S., CIT Consol. #20-00127).
A lawsuit seeking Section 232 steel and aluminum tariff exclusions should be dismissed because the subject entries are not liquidated, the Department of Justice said in an Aug. 26 motion to dismiss at the Court of International Trade. The suit, brought by Borusan Mannesmann Boru Sanayi ve Ticaret A.S. and Gulf Coast Express Pipeline, is seeking the exclusions on 19 entries of steel pipe from Turkey and claims jurisdiction under Section 1581(a). However, a protestable decision needs to occur to claim this jurisdiction -- something the plaintiffs do not have, DOJ said (Borusan Mannesmann Boru Sanayi ve Ticaret A.S., et al. v. U.S., CIT #21-00186).
The following lawsuits were recently filed at the Court of International Trade:
The Court of International Trade on Aug. 27 granted the Commerce Department's request for voluntary remand in the 2017 administrative review of the countervailing duty order on certain hot-rolled steel flat products from South Korea. On remand, Commerce will reconsider its application of facts available to Hyundai Steel Company after the agency found that Hyundai received a benefit relating to "other" income from a program involving port usage rights at the Port of Incheon. Defendant-intervenor and petitioner Nucor Corp. was the only party to oppose the motion for voluntary remand.
The Court of International Trade on Aug. 26 dismissed a steel importer's and purchaser's bid to reliquidate two entries subject to Section 232 steel and aluminum tariffs, saying the plaintiffs had already received the relief available to them from the Commerce Department in the form of a product exclusion but failed to preserve their ability to receive a refund by way of an extension of liquidation or a protest.
CBP's enforcement of forced labor-related withhold release orders is marred by due process violations, an unreasonable standard of evidence, absence of transparency and arbitrary decisions, the American Apparel and Footwear Association said in an Aug. 26 proposed amicus brief filed at the Court of International Trade. Seeking to file the brief in a challenge over CBP's exclusion of Virtus Nutrition's palm oil imports from entry to the U.S. over forced labor allegations, the association's brief more broadly criticizes CBP's forced labor policies (Virtus Nutrition, LLC v. United States, CIT #21-00165).