The Court of International Trade on Dec. 19 denied importer Lionshead Specialty Tire and Wheel's bid to amend a preliminary injunction in an antidumping duty and countervailing duty evasion case to not enjoin the liquidation of steel trailer wheels that the Commerce Department has found to fall outside the scope of the relevant AD/CVD orders. Judge Gary Katzmann held that Lionshead failed to "demonstrate changed circumstances that warrant the modification of the preliminary injunction."
The Court of International Trade on Dec. 20 sustained the Commerce Department's use of surrogate financial statements from Emirates Sleep Systems Private Limited in the antidumping duty investigation on mattresses from Vietnam, despite various objections from exporters led by Ashley Furniture Industries. Judge Timothy Reif said Commerce reasonably found the statements to be complete, publicly available and the best information available.
The World Trade Organization established a dispute settlement panel during the Dec. 18 meeting of the Dispute Settlement Body to review the EU's antidumping duties on fatty acid from Indonesia, the WTO announced. The EU said it "regretted Indonesia's decision" to bring the dispute, believing the measures to be in line with WTO rules. The bloc added that it will preserve the "availability of appeal review" through use of the multiparty interim appeal arrangement, a contingency that safeguards the right to appeal since the Appellate Body is not functioning at this time."
The Commerce Department and the International Trade Commission published the following Federal Register notices Dec. 20 on AD/CVD proceedings:
The following lawsuits were recently filed at the Court of International Trade:
U.S. solar cell maker Auxin Solar and solar module designer Concept Clean Energy asked the Court of International Trade for another 3,500 words to reply to arguments from the government and solar cell exporters and importers in the pair's suit on the Commerce Department's duty pause on solar cells and modules from four Southeast Asian countries. Auxin and Concept Clean Energy said opposing counsel either consented or took no position to the motion (Auxin Solar v. U.S., CIT # 23-00274).
The Commerce Department appropriately found that details about U.S. seafood seller Luscious Seafood's wholesaling operations don't support the company's claim that it was a bona fide wholesaler of the domestic like product, the U.S. argued in a reply brief filed last week at the Court of International Trade. The government said that, as a result, Commerce permissibly found Luscious' request for an administrative review of the antidumping duty order on frozen fish fillets from Vietnam to be invalid (Luscious Seafood v. United States, CIT # 24-00069).
The Court of International Trade on Dec. 18 upheld the Commerce Department's decision on remand to drop the countervailing duty on exporter Risen Energy Co. related to its alleged receipt of benefits under China's Export Buyer's Credit Program. Judge Jane Restani said the move was in line with the court's prior decision.
The Commerce Department adjusted exporter Trina Solar’s U.S. price in an antidumping duty review for subsidies from three programs it had countervailed in an accompanying countervailing duty review, finding, after remand, that the programs were export-contingent. It again declined to adjust Trina’s U.S. price by three other programs (Trina Solar v. U.S., CIT # 23-00213).
The Commerce Department released a final rule Dec. 19 "modernizing the annexes of the trade remedy regulations to enhance the administration" of antidumping and countervailing duty laws, the agency announced. In particular, the agency created three new annexes to "provide additional guidance" on scope inquiries, circumvention inquiries and covered merchandise referrals. In addition, Commerce said each of the three new annexes will contain a field indicating the "number of days, event name, and regulation for each specific event."