A visit the Commerce Department made to a domestic tile manufacturer prior to a scope ruling on imported composite tile was proper and didn't bias Commerce in favor of the manufacturer in its final decision, DOJ said (Elysium Tiles v. U.S., CIT # 23-00041).
Importer Amsted Rail Co. and its Mexican maquiladora affiliate ASF-K de Mexico again brought conflict-of-interest claims to the Court of International Trade involving the International Trade Commission's injury finding on freight rail couplers from Mexico. The Dec. 15 complaint was brought alongside its lawsuit against the Commerce Department's antidumping duty investigation (see 2311210077) (Amsted Rail Co. v. United States, CIT # 23-00268).
The following lawsuits were recently filed at the Court of International Trade:
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit issued its mandate in a case on the countervailing duty investigation on carbon and alloy steel cut-to-length plate from South Korea. In its opinion, the appellate court upheld the Commerce Department's finding that the Korean government didn't provide a countervailable benefit through its provision of electricity to respondents (see 2310230013). Commerce sufficiently carried out a less-than-adequate-remuneration analysis after the court rejected its original preferential rate analysis in 2019 (POSCO v. U.S., Fed. Cir. # 22-1525).
A September Court of International Trade decision is instructive in how to consider the Commerce Department's methodology for assessing de facto specificity regarding Quebec's On-The-Job-Training tax credit in a countervailing duty proceeding, exporter Marmen Energy Co. told the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (Government of Quebec v. U.S., Fed. Cir. # 22-1807).
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit on Dec. 13 denied requests from exporters Guizhou Tyre and Aeolus Tyre to waive the requirement that they file a joint brief in an antidumping duty case (Guizhou Tyre Co. v. United States, Fed. Cir. # 23-2163).
Cozy Comfort Company, which produces the Cozy, a “wearable blanket,” filed Dec. 8 in opposition of a DOJ motion for summary judgment in its classification case (Cozy Comfort Company v. U.S., CIT # 22-00173).
The Sierra Club on Dec. 12 moved to voluntarily dismiss its lawsuit challenging the Department of Energy's approval of liquefied natural gas export applications for increased volumes submitted by Magnolia LNG and Golden Pass LNG Terminal. Sierra Club's decision came after DOE released a notice saying the authorizations for the two terminals have expired and are no longer in effect. Magnolia first moved to withdraw the lawsuit earlier this month (see 2312060049). (Sierra Club v. U.S. Department of Energy, D.C. Cir. # 22-1217).
A domestic petitioner and Indian exporters argued over how an adverse facts available antidumping duty rate for one respondent should factor into the rate for non-individually examined respondents in the Commerce Department's 2020 administrative review on quartz surface products from India (Cambria Company v. U.S., CIT Consol. # 23-00007).
Countervailing duty petitioner Daikin America will appeal an October Court of International Trade decision sustaining the Commerce Department's decision to drop its subsidy finding against exporter Gujarat Fluorochemicals concerning a 30-year land lease to one of its affiliates, Inox Wind Limited, by India's State Industrial Development Corp. The trade court said the subsidy finding couldn't be legal due to Commerce's interpretation of its regulation, which says the agency will attribute -- to the affiliates' combined sales -- subsidies received by related input suppliers whose inputs are mainly dedicated to the production of downstream merchandise. The court ruled the provision of electricity is not primarily dedicated to the production of granular polytetrafluorethylene, the subject of the CVD investigation, adding that Commerce misunderstood the production chain (see 2310160026) (Gujarat Fluorochemicals v. United States, CIT # 22-00120).