Importer Mirror Metals and the Commerce Department need more time to work out the details of refunding Section 232 duties following Commerce's decision to grant retroactive tariff exclusion bids, according to an Aug. 22 status report filed with the Court of International Trade (Mirror Metals v. U.S., CIT #21-00144).
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit on Aug. 19 issued its mandate in an antidumping duty case brought by Prime Time Commerce. In June, the appellate court ruled that Prime Time failed to exhaust its administrative remedies for its argument that the Commerce Department should look to confidential information to provide "gap-filling" data needed to calculate a rate separate from the China-wide antidumping margin (see 2206280038). The Federal Circuit further ruled that while CIT and Commerce erred in not accepting Prime Time's submissions since it is an "interested party," the error was a harmless one. The case concerned the administrative review of the AD order on cased pencils from China (Prime Time Commerce v. United States, Fed. Cir. #21-1783).
The Commerce Department in Aug. 22 comments at the Court of International Trade urged acceptance of its remand results in which it verified that a countervailing duty respondent's U.S. customers did not use China's Export Buyer's Credit Program. Commerce said that since it complied with the court's order to verify the U.S. customers' claims that they did not use the EBCP and that no parties oppose the remand, the court should uphold the decision that dropped the CVD rate from 25.90% to 15.36% (Both-Well (Taizhou) Steel Fittings Co. v. United States, CIT #21-00166).
The Commerce Department erred when using adverse facts available over the reporting of various Malaysian inland freight data in antidumping duty respondent Euro SME's home market and U.S. sales databases, the respondent argued in an Aug. 19 brief at the Court of International Trade. Euro SME further railed against Commerce's use of AFA over the reporting of certain sales data kept in the normal course of business (Euro SME v. United States, CIT #22-00108).
The following lawsuits were recently filed at the Court of International Trade:
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit on Aug. 18 denied a petition for the entire court to rehear a broad challenge to Section 232 tariffs on iron and steel and aluminum products. The Federal Circuit had dismissed the case, led by USP Holdings, in June (see 2206090047), ruling against the importers’ arguments that the Commerce Department in its underlying report was required to find an imminent threat to domestic industry and did not do so. The petition for en banc rehearing cited the Supreme Court’s recent decision in West Virginia v. EPA, arguing that the appeals court failed to consider the effect of the Administrative Procedure Act on the standard of review in the case (see 2207220071). The order denying the rehearing motion did not lay out any reasoning for the denial (USP Holdings v. United States, Fed. Cir. #21-1726).
The Court of International Trade will put a temporary hold on liquidation of entries of aluminum extrusions imported by Kingtom Aluminio while it considers a preliminary injunction requested by a domestic industry group, it said in an Aug. 18 order (Aluminum Extrusions Fair Trade Committee v. United States, CIT # 22-00236).
The Court of International Trade on Aug. 18 granted the government’s request for a voluntary remand in an importer’s challenge to a CBP Enforce and Protect Act evasion finding on tri-bar floors imported in farrowing crates. DOJ had requested the remand a day earlier, seeking to add to the record of the EAPA proceeding a recent Commerce Department scope ruling that also found the tri-bar floors subject to the scope of antidumping and countervailing duty orders on steel grating from China (Ikadan System USA v. United States, CIT # 21-00592).
The Court of International Trade should uphold a "reasonable" final determination by the Commerce Department that oil country tubular goods made in Brunei and the Philippines from Chinese hot-rolled steel coils are circumventing antidumping and countervailing duties on OCTG from China, intervenors Welded Tube USA, Wheatland Tube Company, and Vallourec Star said in an Aug. 19 brief (HLDS (B) Steel v. United States, CIT #21-00638).
The following lawsuits were recently filed at the Court of International Trade: