The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit should let appellants Tau-Ken Temir and Kazakhstan's Ministry of Trade and Integration make corrections to their opening brief, they said May 8. The parties said they would have filed an additional extension motion had their counsel known of a previously undisclosed visit by U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken to Kazakhstan on the day the brief was due (Tau-Ken Temir v. United States, Fed. Cir. # 22-2204).
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 May 8 in a case in which it found that the Commerce Department can legally deduct Section 232 steel and aluminum duties from an exporter's U.S. price in antidumping duty proceedings, which raises the respondent's dumping margins (see 2303150035). In its March opinion, the appellate court said the presidential proclamation imposing the duties made clear that the tariffs were meant to be added to any applicable antidumping duties, though the court clarified that this ruling applies only to President Donald Trump's Section 232 duties and not all presidential action taken under this statute (Borusan Mannesmann Boru Sanayi ve Ticaret v. U.S., Fed. Cir. # 21-2097).
CIT Sends Back Parts, Upholds Parts of AD Review on Wood Flooring From China in Confidential Opinion
The Court of International Trade in a confidential opinion upheld parts and sent back parts of the Commerce Department's administrative review of the antidumping duty order on multilayered wood flooring from China. In a letter to litigants, Judge Richard Eaton gave the parties until May 12 to review the confidential information in the opinion and respond.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit granted the government's motion for leave to correct parts of two statements it made in a now-concluded case on tobacco excise taxes for cigar wrappers. The U.S. said samples of the goods relied on in the case were taken from a specific entry when they were not, adding that it has identified the source of six of the nine samples considered by the court. While importer and appellant New Image Global never raised the source of the samples as a concern, the company filed two related complaints at the Court of International Trade alleging for the first time that the lab reports were false and unreliable (see 2210310062). As a result, the U.S. asked the court for leave to withdraw the two statements that inaccurately describe the entries "out of a deep commitment to transparency and candor" (see 2304240043). The court granted the motion without prejudice to further proceedings before CIT (New Image Global v. U.S., Fed. Cir. # 19-2444).
The following lawsuit was recently filed at the Court of International Trade:
The Court of International Trade granted importer Sonos' bid to voluntarily dismiss its case seeking Section 301 refunds on imports of wireless speakers and audio components. Sonos claimed that its imports were granted exclusions to the China tariffs and CBP failed to refund the duties, which totalled over $229,000 (see 2212120056). Erik Smithweiss, counsel for Sonos, said the matter was resolved administratively (Sonos v. United States, CIT # 22-00337).
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit will drop SunPower Manufacturing Oregon from an appeal of the case on the 2017-18 administrative review of the antidumping duty order on solar cells from China if the company does not enter an entry of appearance within 14 days. John Magnus, counsel for SunPower, told Trade Law Daily that the company did not participate in the proceedings at the Court of International Trade and shouldn't have been included as a party in the appeal before the Federal Circuit. In the case, the Commerce Department set surrogate values for silver paste, while revising its use of adverse facts available, choosing to use partial neutral facts available (see 2301050026) (Risen Energy Co. v. United States, Fed. Cir. # 23-1550).
The Commerce Department applied a more lenient standard to antidumping duty petitioner Nucor Tubular Products by accepting a correction to a ministerial error that was raised only after the final results in the 2018-19 administrative review of the AD order on heavy walled rectangular welded steel pipes and tubes from Mexico was issued, respondent Maquilacero argued in comments to the Court of International Trade on Commerce's remand results accepting the correction (Nucor Tubular Products v. U.S., CIT # 21-00543).
The Court of International Trade should push back the end of discovery until well after required disclosures in a fraud and evasion penalty case, defendant Zhe Liu said in a May 5 motion. Liu said that currently the end of discovery is set for May 15 but that initial disclosures will not be completed until after the discovery deadline, meaning that Liu would be unable to identify any individuals known to CBP that have information possibly relevant to his defense (United States v. Zhe "John" Liu, CIT # 22-00215).