The Commerce Department correctly found that processors and producers of oil country tubular goods weren't double-counted in the agency's domestic production calculation underlying the antidumping duty investigations on OCTG from Argentina, Mexico, South Korea and Russia, the U.S. argued. Filing a reply brief at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit on Aug. 5, the government added that importers led by Tenaris Bay City failed to raise a host of arguments before Commerce they now attempt to bring before the appellate court (Tenaris Bay City v. United States, Fed. Cir. # 25-1382).
The Court of International Trade on Aug. 8 sent back the Commerce Department's 2021 review of the countervailing duty order on carbon and alloy steel cut-to-length plate from South Korea. Judge Jane Restani remanded Commerce's finding that the Korean government's provision of subsidized electricity is de facto specific, faulting the agency for grouping the steel industry with two unrelated industries to assess whether the industries predominantly used electricity. The judge also warned against countervailing the provision of electricity, which is of the type of general subsidy barred from being countervailed under the CVD statute. Restani also sent back the decision to countervail the allocation of additional carbon emissions credits under the Korean cap and trade program. Restani rejected the findings that the extra credits are a "financial contribution" and are de jure specific.
The Commerce Department and the International Trade Commission published the following Federal Register notices Aug. 7 on AD/CVD proceedings:
A group of exporters, led by Hangzhou Five Star Aluminum, filed a stipulation of dismissal at the Court of International Trade on Aug. 6 in their case against the Commerce Department's administrative review of the countervailing duty order on aluminum foil from China for the 2022 review period. The companies brought the case to contest Commerce's use of UNComtrade data as the benchmark for assessing the adequacy of remuneration for the provision of aluminum ingot. The exporters also challenged the use of adverse facts available in relation to the respondents' alleged use of China's Export Buyer's Credit Program. Counsel for the companies didn't immediately respond to a request for comment (Hangzhou Five Star Aluminum v. United States, CIT # 24-00231).
The Commerce Department stuck by its selection of comparable merchandise for chlorinated isocyanurates (chlorinated isos) in its Aug. 4 remand results at the Court of International Trade. However, the agency swapped the surrogate labor data it used in the 2021-22 administrative review of the AD order on Chinese chlorinated isos, which led to small downward adjustments in the AD rates for the two mandatory respondents (Bio-Lab, Inc. v. United States, CIT Consol. # 24-00024).
The Commerce Department and the International Trade Commission published the following Federal Register notices Aug. 6 on AD/CVD proceedings:
The Commerce Department on Aug. 4 switched from a "tier two" to a "tier three" benchmark in calculating the benefit received by countervailing duty respondent JSC Apatit for the provision of natural gas for less than adequate remuneration. Responding to the Court of International Trade's remand order in a case on the 2020-21 administrative review of the CVD order on phosphate fertilizer from Russia, Commerce adjusted Apatit's CVD rate from 28.50% to 49.64% (Archer Daniels Midland Co. v. United States, CIT # 23-00239).
Judges at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit on Aug. 5 heard oral argument in a case on the Commerce Department's finding in the countervailing duty investigation on Russian phosphate fertilizers that the Russian government's provision of natural gas was a de facto specific subsidy. Judges Sharon Prost, Jimmie Reyna and Raymond Chen pressed counsel for exporter Industrial Group Phosphorite and the U.S. government on whether the agency properly found that the agrochemical industry is the "predominant user of natural gas" in Russia (The Mosaic Company v. U.S., Fed. Cir. # 24-1593).
The Commerce Department and the International Trade Commission published the following Federal Register notices Aug. 5 on AD/CVD proceedings:
The following lawsuits were filed recently at the Court of International Trade: