The Commerce Department accepted ministerial errors originally rejected as untimely in an antidumping duty proceeding on remand at the Court of International Trade, raising the dumping rates for the two respondents should the remand results be sustained. Commerce corrected errors in respondent Prolamsa's currency conversion and respondent Maquilacero's quarterly cost methodology in the 2018-19 administrative review of the AD order on heavy walled rectangular welded steel pipes and tubes from Mexico, causing their AD rates to rise from zero percent to 2.11% for Prolamsa and to 3.48% for Maquilacero (Nucor Tubular Products v. United States, CIT # 21-00543).
The International Trade Commission legally applied retroactive antidumping and countervailing duties on imports of small vertical shaft engines from China, the Court of International Trade said. In a March 16 opinion, Judge M. Miller Baker said the "court will not second-guess" the ITC's decision, which found that the retroactive duties were justified because of a surge in imports of the engines just before the antidumping and countervailing duties took effect.
The Court of International Trade sustained three antidumping and countervailing duty cases March 20, and uphold parts and remanded parts of the Commerce Department's determination in a fourth. Judge Jennifer Choe-Groves decided all four cases.
The Commerce Department and the International Trade Commission published the following Federal Register notices March 17 on AD/CVD proceedings:
The following lawsuits were recently filed at the Court of International Trade:
The Court of International Trade on March 16 refused to accept a second motion to dismiss from Zhe "John" Liu, a defendant in a penalty case, since it "is not a motion provided for by the rules of the court." Judge Jane Restani ruled that Liu's "excuse" for filing the second motion -- that "something signficant" intervened -- "is not well-taken." The trade court instead accepted Liu's first motion to dismiss, and told Liu to make sure future filings align with court rules (United States v. Zhe "John" Liu, CIT # 22-00215).
The Commerce Department impermissably favored one side through a series of actions around a scope ruling on ceramic tiles from China, including an exclusive meeting with a domestic tile producer that unfairly prejudiced the agency, importers Elysium Tiles and Elysium Tile Florida said in a March 16 complaint at the Court of International Trade (Elysium Tiles v. U.S., CIT # 23-00041).
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit on March 15 rejected a textile company's expedited motion for a temporary injunction that would have required CBP to return its entries of imported coated fabric to unliquidated status or suspend the company's protests. Judge Evan Wallach said the company, Printing Textiles, doing business as Berger Textiles, "failed to persuade the court of the likelihood that jurisdiction under" Section 1581(a) would be manifestly inadequate, establishing jurisdiction under Section 1581(i), as claimed by Berger (Printing Textiles, dba Berger Textiles v. United States, Fed. Cir. # 23-1576).
The Court of International Trade on March 16 upheld the use of a questionnaire instead of on-site verification in the Commerce Department's countervailing duty investigation on aluminum sheet from Turkey. Judge M. Miller Baker said that Commerce "easily" defeated respondent Teknik Aluminyum Sanayi's challenge because Teknik cited no authority requiring the agency to carry out a certain verification procedure during a global pandemic.
The Commerce Department and the International Trade Commission published the following Federal Register notices March 16 on AD/CVD proceedings: