The Court of International Trade doesn't have jurisdiction to hear importer Eteros Technologies USA's case against CBP's alleged retaliation against the company for its success at the trade court regarding the admissibility of its marijuana trimmers, the U.S. said. Filing a reply brief last week in support of its motion to dismiss the case, the government argued that Eteros' case doesn't challenge the "administration and enforcement" of an import transaction" (Eteros Technologies USA v. United States, CIT # 25-00036).
CBP properly found that importers American Pacific Plywood, InterGlobal Forest and U.S. Global Forest evaded the antidumping duty and countervailing duty orders on plywood from China via Cambodian producer LB Wood, the Court of International Trade held on July 9. Judge M. Miller Baker sustained the evasion determination over a host of legal, procedural and factual claims made by InterGlobal.
The Court of International Trade on July 11 upheld the Commerce Department's decision to grant exporter East Sea Seafoods a separate antidumping duty rate in the 2019-20 review of the AD order on catfish from Vietnam. Judge M. Miller Baker also upheld Commerce's decision to base exporter Green Farms' separate rate on a simple average of respondent NTSF Seafood's zero percent margin and East Sea's adverse facts available rate.
The Commerce Department and the International Trade Commission published the following Federal Register notices July 10 on AD/CVD proceedings:
The Court of International Trade on July 9 sustained CBP's finding that importers American Pacific Plywood, InterGlobal Forest and U.S. Global Forest evaded the antidumping duty and countervailing duty orders on plywood from China through Cambodian manufacturer LB Wood. Judge M. Miller Baker held that all that's required for liability to attach under the Enforce and Protect Act is "the entry of covered merchandise through any material false statement or material omission that avoids antidumping and countervailing duties, except those resulting from clerical errors," noting that even clerical errors are evasion if they are "part of a pattern of negligent conduct." The judge also held that CBP isn't precluded from finding that shipments from LB Wood are of Chinese origin in light of two other CIT cases the agency settled in which it said shipments from LB Wood are of Cambodian origin. Baker said the doctrine of judicial estoppel doesn't apply here, however, since CBP didn't succeed in advancing a position "directly inconsistent" with its theory in the present case, given that its initial position in the two settled cases was identical to its position here "but it then ran up the white flag."
The Commerce Department and the International Trade Commission published the following Federal Register notices July 9 on AD/CVD proceedings:
Supporting the Commerce Department’s reluctant reversal on remand finding that bricks imported by Fedmet Resources Corp. weren’t covered by antidumping duties or countervailing duties on magnesia carbon bricks, (see 2503130022), the U.S. said July 3 that a petitioner’s opposition really seeks just to have the Court of International Trade reconsider its decision (Fedmet Resources Corp. v. United States, CIT # 23-00117).
The Court of International Trade in a confidential July 8 decision sustained the Commerce Department's remand results in a case on the 2021-22 review of the antidumping duty order on frozen warmwater shrimp from India.
In July 2 oral argument for a case on antidumping duty and countervailing duty injury investigations on freight rail couplers, parties before Court of International Trade Judge Gary Katzmann wrestled with what one attorney described as a truly novel issue: whether it was lawful of the International Trade Commission to initiate an injury investigation two months after reaching a negative injury finding for the same imports (Wabtec Corp. v. United States, CIT Consol. # 23-00157).
The Commerce Department and the International Trade Commission published the following Federal Register notices July 8 on AD/CVD proceedings: