The Commerce Department did not err in its scope ruling that found that two-ply hardwood plywood fell under the antidumping and countervailing duty orders on hardwood plywood from China, the government said in a Nov. 18 reply brief at the Court of International Trade. The brief asked the court to sustain the underlying scope ruling (Vietnam Finewood Company Ltd. v. U.S., CIT # 22-00049).
Fish importer Southern Cross Seafoods on Nov. 21 moved for an expedited briefing schedule and consideration of its case at the Court of International Trade concerning its application for preapproval to import Chilean sea bass. Southern Cross said that failure to expedite the case would deprive the importer of all its U.S. sales in the coming year as it is unable to import and sell Chilean sea bass until the embargo on its imports is lifted. Further, the fish imports are perishable goods, so Southern Cross said it needs a decision by March 2023 to have any meaningful relief (Southern Cross Seafoods v. United States, CIT #22-00299).
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in a Nov. 21 order denied customs broker test taker Byungmin Chae's motion for an oral argument in his case seeking credit on a select number of test questions. The court said that the appeal will be submitted on their briefs without oral argument (Byungmin Chae v. Janet Yellen, Fed. Cir. #22-2017).
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit on Nov. 18 gave the U.S. more time to file a petition for rehearing in an antidumping duty case. In the case, the Federal Circuit found that the Commerce Department cannot select just one mandatory respondent in an antidumping duty review where multiple exporters have requested a review (see 2208290026). The court ruled that Commerce's interpretation of the statute finding that it can use only one respondent cuts against the statute's unambiguous language. The judges ruled the agency has not shown it to be otherwise reasonable to calculate the all-others rate based on only one respondent and said the directive to find a weighted average gives no reason why it's reasonable to use only a single rate. The U.S. was previously given 60 more days to file the rehearing motion, and now has another 30, giving it until Jan. 11, 2023, to file a petition for rehearing (YC Rubber Co. (North America) v. United States, Fed. Cir. # 21-1489).
The U.S. District Court of the District of Columbia in a Nov. 14 order granted a motion from plaintiffs in a Jones Act challenge for leave to amend their complaint. The plaintiffs -- the Offshore Marine Service Association, Shipbuilders Council of America and Capt. Paul Radtke -- challenged, among other things, CBP's "issuance of and failure to revoke twenty-five letter rulings," claiming that they departed from the Jones Act's requirements by allowing foreign vessels to ship merchandise between U.S. points if they also engage in ancillary activities not regulated by the act (Captain Paul Radtke, et al. v. CBP, D.C.C. #17-2412).
The Commerce Department did not "sufficiently" identify withheld information to justify of its use of adverse facts available in an antidumping duty case, plaintiff Kumar Industries argued in a Nov. 18 reply brief at the Court of International Trade. Commerce failed to identify "a single document that was actually missing" to justify the use of AFA and also chose not to verify the information submitted by Kumar despite ample opportunity to do so, the brief said (Kumar Industries v. United States, CIT #21-00622).
No lawsuits have been filed at the Court of International Trade since Nov. 16.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit will hold an oral argument on Jan. 10, 2023, at 10 a.m. EST in a case on whether President Donald Trump illegally expanded Section 232 steel and aluminum tariffs to include derivative products. According to the notice of oral argument, the court will hold the hearing in Courtroom 201 in the Howard T. Markey National Courts Building in Washington. In the case, the Court of International Trade said that Trump illegally expanded the tariffs to derivative products beyond the 105-day deadline to take tariff action that runs from the submission of a report from the commerce secretary. In Transpacific Steel v. U.S., however, the Federal Circuit said that Trump could take certain tariff actions beyond this deadline so long as it it was part of the original "plan of action" (see 2107130059) (PrimeSource Building Products v. U.S., Fed. Cir. # 21-2066).
The Commerce Department in Nov. 17 remand results submitted to the Court of International Trade further explained its surrogate value selection for coal-based carbonized materials and Malaysian company Bravo Green's 2018 financial statements to calculate the surrogate financial ratios in an antidumping duty case (Carbon Activated Tianjin Co. v. United States, CIT #21-00131).
The following lawsuits were recently filed at the Court of International Trade: