The Court of International Trade in an Aug. 30 opinion upheld the Commerce Department's remand results in the 2016-17 administrative review of the antidumping duty order on hot-rolled steel flat products from Australia. On remand in the case, Commerce dropped its reliance on adverse facts available based on the respondent BlueScope Steel's U.S. sales quantity and value reporting data. The move dropped the dumping rate for BlueScope from 99.20% to 4.95%.
The Commerce Department erred in applying adverse facts available to countervailing duty review respondent Qingdao Ge Rui Da Rubber Co. (GRT), the respondent argued in an Aug. 25 complaint at the Court of International Trade. The case concerns the 2020 review of the CVD order on truck and bus tires from China. Commerce hit GRT with a 1.78% AFA rate over the respondent's supposed use of China's Export Buyer's Credit Program -- a position that has repeatedly been struck down by the trade court. After the review, GRT filed its two-count complaint to argue that Commerce erred in using AFA over the EBCP and that "upon information and belief, Commerce erred in other aspects of its Final Results with respect to GRT and the EBC program that will be evident upon review of the administrative record in this case" (Qingdao Ge Rui Da Rubber Co. v. United States, CIT #22-00229).
Plaintiffs in an antidumping duty case, led by Ellwood City Forge Co., aren't seeking to relitigate the issue of whether the Commerce Department should have conducted on-site verification during its administrative review but merely trying to frame a newly available piece of evidence, the plaintiffs argued in an Aug. 25 brief. Responding to arguments from the U.S. and exporter Metalcam, the plaintiffs said it's the U.S. and Metalcam that are seeking to relitigate issues, particularly the point of whether the plaintiffs raised the issue administratively (Ellwood City Forge v. United States, CIT #21-00073).
The Court of International Trade in an Aug. 29 opinion upheld the Commerce Department's decision to reverse its finding that a particular market situation existed for an input of oil country tubular goods in South Korea. The court previously remanded the PMS determination in the 2017-18 administrative review of the AD order on OCTG as being unsupported by substantial evidence. The agency then flipped its finding, prompting Judge Jennifer Choe-Groves to sustain the remand results. Previously, the judge also sent back Commerce's use of the Cohen's d test to root out masked dumping, but since respondent SeAH Steel Corp. was given a de minimis dumping margin, the issue was moot.
The Commerce Department properly excluded dual-stenciled pipe from the antidumping duty order on circular welded carbon steel pipes and tubes from Thailand, the Court of International Trade ruled in an Aug. 25 opinion. Judge Stephen Vaden ruled that no line pipe was made in Thailand when the original AD investigation was conducted almost 40 years ago and that the International Trade Commission made no harm finding for line or dual-stenciled pipe from Thailand.
The Commerce Department cannot select just one mandatory respondent in an antidumping review where multiple exporters have requested a review, the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit ruled in an Aug. 29 opinion. Reversing a decision from the Court of International Trade, Judges Pauline Newman, Alvin Schall and Sharon Prost said Commerce's interpretation of the statute finding that it can use only one respondent runs "contrary to the statute's unambiguous language." The judges ruled the agency hasn't shown it to be otherwise reasonable to calculate the all-others rate based on only one respondent and said the directive to find a weighted average gives no reason why it's reasonable to use only a single rate.
The Commerce Department and the International Trade Commission published the following Federal Register notices Aug. 26 on AD/CVD proceedings:
The Commerce Department was right to exclude dual-stenciled standard pipe and line pipe from the antidumping duty order on circular welded carbon steel pipes and tubes from Thailand, the Court of International Trade said in an Aug. 25 opinion. Upholding Commerce's remand results in a scope challenge, Judge Stephen Vaden ruled that no line pipe was made in Thailand when the initial AD investigation was commenced over 40 years ago and no injury finding was made for line or dual-stenciled pipe from Thailand.
The Court of International Trade in an Aug. 26 opinion upheld the Commerce Department's remand results in the 2016-17 administrative review of the antidumping duty order on oil country tubular goods from South Korea. Previously, Judge Jennifer Choe-Groves remanded Commerce's particular market situation finding, reallocation of respondent NEXTEEL's reported costs for non-prime products for an allocation based on actual costs, adjustment to NEXTEEL' production line suspension costs, calculation of respondent SeAH Steel Co.'s affiliated seller's further manufacturing cost and inclusion of SeAH's inventory valuation losses in its general and administrative expense ratio.
The Commerce Department and the International Trade Commission published the following Federal Register notices Aug. 25 on AD/CVD proceedings: