The Commerce Department abused its discretion when it rejected Mexican exporter Simec's extension request and refused to accept a late submission during the 2019-20 antidumping duty administrative review on steel concrete reinforcing bar from Mexico, exporter Acerero said in its Aug. 9 reply motion at the Court of International Trade. The motion came in response to a filing from the Rebar Trade Action Coalition (RTAC), which asked the court to uphold Commerce's use of adverse facts available in calculating Simec's AD rate of 66.7% and the all-others rate assigned to exporter Sidertul and Acerero at 33.35% (see 2307110019) (Grupo Acerero v. U.S., CIT Consol. # 22-00202).
The Court of International Trade in an Aug. 10 order stayed a case on the Commerce Department's refusal to grant Section 232 steel and aluminum tariff exclusions for 60 days so the parties can conclude "a process of coordinating how" Commerce's decision on remand to grant 45 of the exclusions "should be effectuated." The agency changed course last year, granting the exclusions for importer Mirror Metals after finding that the relevant steel article could not be made at a sufficient level in the U.S. (see 2204190016) (Mirror Metals v. United States, CIT # 21-00144).
Purchasers of tuna from American Tuna urged the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California to move for class certification in their suit that claims that American Tuna and World Wise Foods, its corporate parent, "deceived consumers" by creating the idea that its tuna is caught in U.S. waters. The buyers, led by Jeffrey Craig, said that a "significant portion" of American Tuna's brand tuna, which is branded as "100% American Made," is not caught in the U.S. (Jeffrey Craig, on behalf of himself and all others similarly situated v. American Tuna, S.D. Calif. # 3:22-00473).
The U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee ruled that importer Cabinets to Go didn't demonstrate that Chinese manufacturer Haiyan's failure to certify its products' country of origin violated any material term of an agreement between the two companies (Cabinets to Go v. Qingdao Haiyan Real Estate Group Co., M.D. Tenn. # 3:21-00711).
Commerce’s remand results involving the inclusion of in-transit mattresses in its quarterly ratio calculation did not satisfy a remand order by the Court of International Trade, antidumping duty respondent Zinus Indonesia said in its Aug. 8 remand comments. The court should remand the matter to Commerce to recalculate Zinus' dumping margin without including the mattresses in-transit, Zinus said (PT. Zinus Global Indonesia v. U.S., CIT # 21-00277).
CBP's failure to timely release documents in an Enforce and Protect Act investigation deprived importer Phoenix Metal of its right to defend against the agency's allegation that it transshipped in order to avoid paying antidumping and countervailing duties (see 2303030049), Phoenix said in an Aug. 9 motion for judgment at the Court of International Trade. The company said it had no chance to respond to allegations of evasion before "severe enforcement measures" were put in place, adding that CBP's "only purpose" in EAPA investigations "is to operate in the shadows and shun inconveniences like the [Administrative Procedure Act] and due process of law" (Phoenix Metal v. U.S., CIT # 23-00048).
The following lawsuits were recently filed at the Court of International Trade:
Retail giant Target Corp. will appeal a July Court of International Trade decision, which refused to invalidate a prior court order telling CBP to reliquidate Target's metal-top ironing tables. The notice of appeal says the retailer will take the case to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. In the opinion, Judge Leo Gordon said that if Target succeeded, it would call into question whether a party at the court could obtain "full and complete relief," turning the clock back over 40 years on the Article III court powers (see 2307200049) (Target Corp. v. United States, CIT #21-00162).
The Court of International Trade in an Aug. 7 order stayed a case challenging President Donald Trump's expansion of Section 232 steel and aluminum duties onto "derivative" products beyond procedural time limits, pending the Supreme Court of the U.S.'s resolution of a case on the same challenge. Judges Jennifer Choe-Groves, M. Miller Baker and Timothy Stanceu stayed the matter until 65 days after PrimeSource Building Products v. U.S. is settled. Importer PrimeSource filed for a writ of certiorari at the high court at the end of July, asking the court to take up the case to settle ambiguity in the statutes delegating vast legislative power to the executive in favor of restraining this delegation (see 2307270028) (Tempo Global Resources v. U.S., CIT # 20-00066).
Court of International Trade Judge Mark Barnett encouraged parties in an antidumping duty case to involve their junior lawyers in an oral argument proceeding set for Aug. 15. Submitting a letter to the litigants in a suit on the AD investigation on raw honey from India, Barnett said the Federal Bar Council has suggested judges should modify their practice rules to let junior lawyers "take a more active role in oral arguments" (American Honey Producers Association v. United States, CIT # 22-00195).