Exporter Kaptan Demir Celik Endustrisi ve Ticaret and petitioner Rebar Trade Action Coalition each contested an element of the Commerce Department's remand results in a case on the 2020 review of the countervailing duty order on Turkish rebar. In comments to the Court of International Trade laying out their disagreements, Kaptan challenged Commerce's use of a report from Colliers International as a benchmark in assessing the benefit Kaptan derived from the provision of land for less than adequate remuneration, while the coalition challenged the agency's finding that exemptions from Turkey's Banking Insurance and Transaction Tax were neither de jure nor de facto specific (Kaptan Demir Celik Endustrisi ve Ticaret v. United States, CIT # 23-00131).
Antidumping petitioner Nucor Corp. argued last week that the Commerce Department failed to support its "reliance on quarterly costs" in calculating the cost of production for respondent Officine Tecnosider in the 2020-21 administrative review of the antidumping duty order on steel plate from Italy. Nucor said Commerce failed to address concerns raised by the Court of International Trade on the use of the quarterly costs methodology (Officine Tecnosider v. United States, CIT # 23-00001).
Wooden cabinet importers referring to themselves as Cabinetworks Companies made a number of arguments Feb. 26 opposing a Commerce Department scope ruling, culminating in an attack on the department’s country-wide antidumping and countervailing duty determinations (ACProducts v. United States, CIT #s 24-00155, -00156).
The Court of International Trade on Feb. 28 sustained the Commerce Department's 2019-20 review of the antidumping duty order on steel concrete rebar from Mexico. Judge Stephen Vaden said Commerce complied with his previous remand order telling the agency to reopen the record and accept a submission from respondent Grupo Simec that it previously rejected for being untimely. On remand, Commerce dropped Grupo Simec's AD rate from 66.7% to zero percent and the rate for the non-individually examined companies from 33.35% to zero percent.
CBP didn't need to refer the question of whether petitioner CP Kelco still made oilfield xanthan gum to the Commerce Department in an antidumping duty evasion case, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit held on Feb. 27. Judges Kimberly Moore, Todd Hughes and Tiffany Cunningham said the evidence didn't support such a referral and, in any case, such a referral would only apply to future merchandise and not the goods subject to the evasion case.
Alexandra Hess, a former official at CBP, has rejoined Cassidy Levy as a partner in the Washington, D.C., office, the firm announced on LinkedIn. At CBP, Hess served as branch chief for entry process and duty refunds in the Office of Regulations & Rulings, where she "issued rulings and advice" on "the entry process, duty drawback, de minimis, reconciliation, bonding, antidumping and countervailing duties, temporary importation under bond, foreign trade zones, right to make entry, broker compliance and management, and quota," the firm said.
The Commerce Department and the International Trade Commission published the following Federal Register notices Feb. 27 on AD/CVD proceedings:
Three importers found to have evaded antidumping duty and countervailing duty orders on Chinese glycine told the Court of International Trade that CBP has failed to offer any evidence of direct evasion of the orders. The importers, Newtrend USA, Starille and Nutrawave Co., said in a brief last week that all three categories of evidence relied on by CBP amount to "nothing more than speculation" (Newtrend USA Co. v. United States, CIT # 22-00347).
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit on Feb. 27 sustained CBP's finding that importers Glob Energy Corp., Ascension Chemicals, UMD Solutions and Crude Chem Technology evaded the antidumping duty order on xanthan gum from China. Judges Kimberly Moore, Todd Hughes and Tiffany Cunningham rejected the importers' claim that CBP was required to refer the case to the Commerce Department to see if petitioner CP Kelco was still injured by oilfield xanthan gum imports, based on evidence purportedly showing the company no longer made oilfield xanthan gum. The judges also said CBP properly used adverse inferences against the claimed manufacturers of the merchandise. Lastly, the court said the Court of International Trade erred in finding it didn't have jurisdiction over entries erroneously liquidated by CBP, but the error was harmless given that the evasion finding was properly supported.
Three parties in a sprawling dispute over Canadian lumber each replied Feb. 21 to the U.S. argument that Loper Bright doesn't apply to judicial review of the Commerce Department’s administrative review of Canadian softwood lumber (see 2502140050) (Government of Canada v. United States, CIT # 23-00187).