Pirelli Tyre Co. properly showed that it was not under Chinese government control for the first 10 months of an antidumping review period and thus subject to a separate rate analysis, the Commerce Department said in its Dec. 3 remand results submitted to the Court of International Trade. Since a Chinese company bought Pirelli in the 10th month of the review, though, the company is considered under Chinese government control from that point forward. The case had been remanded so that Commerce could reconsider the first 10 months of the review, before the sale (Qingdao Sentury Tire Co., Ltd., et al. v. United States, CIT Consol. # 18-00079).
The Court of International Trade on Dec. 7 granted partial victory to an importer challenging the assessment of antidumping and countervailing duties on its entries of solar cells, even though it says the entries preceded the date Commerce changed the scope of the relevant AD/CVD orders to include the products. Aireko Construction said the entries should be reliquidated at zero percent AD/CVD rates. However, the importer had challenged the assessments based on a denied protest, rather than file its case under the proper jurisdiction to challenge Commerce's instructions to CBP. Without a valid challenge to those instructions, CIT ruled that it could only instruct CBP to reliquidate the entries according to Commerce's instructions, free of CV duties but at an AD duty rate of 42.33%.
The Commerce Department and the International Trade Commission published the following Federal Register notices Nov. Dec. 6 on AD/CV duty proceedings:
Commerce improperly applied a duty drawback adjustment to a Turkish aluminum exporter’s antidumping duty rate, because the imports the exporter used to claim drawback could not be used to make the exported merchandise, the Aluminum Association Common Alloy Aluminum Sheet Trade Enforcement Working Group said in a brief filed Nov. 23 in support of its motion for judgment in the case (Assan Aluminiyum Sanayi ve Ticaret A.S. v. U.S., CIT # 21-00246).
Section 1581(i) Jurisdiction Stands in Liquidation Instruction Challenge, Solar Cell Importer Argues
The Department of Justice's motion to dismiss a challenge to the Commerce Department's liquidation instructions to CBP over MS Solar's solar panels is "nothing more than an effort to avoid judicial scrutiny of its arbitrary and unreasonable actions," MS Solar said in a Nov. 23 brief to the Court of International Trade. The solar panel importer urged the court to accept jurisdiction under the court's Section 1581(i) "residual" jurisdiction provision (MS Solar Investments, LLC v. United States, CIT #21-00303).
The Commerce Department's finding that the European Union's Common Agricultural Policy is de facto specific to Spanish olive growers and thus countervailable is not backed by substantial evidence, plaintiffs in a case challenging this contention said in Dec. 3 comments submitted to the Court of International Trade. In its bid to corroborate this de facto specificity finding, Commerce actually shows the "proportionate nature of the programs," undermining the de facto finding, the comments on Commerce's remand results said (Asociacion de Exportadores e Industriales de Aceitunas de Mesa et al v. United States, CIT #18-00195).
The Commerce Department has given no reason why South Korean steel company SeAH Steel Corp. should be penalized via a delayed remand submission because "Commerce has chosen to procrastinate" on a delayed remand in another case, SeAH told the Court of International Trade in a Dec. 2 brief (SeAH Steel Corporation v. United States, CIT #20-00150).
The International Trade Commission should revoke the antidumping and countervailing duty orders on polyethylene terephthalate (PET) resin from Canada, China, India and Oman due to the U.S. industry already running at full capacity and undertaking market distorting practices, PET resin consumers will tell the ITC during a sunset review of the orders. The PET resin consumers, including members of the International Bottled Water Association (IBWA), note the inflationary effect the AD/CVD orders on PET resin have on their prices and mark the orders as one of the factors contributing to unsustainable price hikes amid shortages in one of bottled water's essential inputs.
The Commerce Department and the International Trade Commission published the following Federal Register notices Nov. Dec. 2-3 on AD/CV duty proceedings:
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce objects to legislation meant to update antidumping and countervailing duty laws, it said in a letter to leadership of House Ways and Means Committee and its Trade Subcommittee. Soon after the Chamber sent its letter, lawmakers introduced the House version of the Eliminating Global Market Distortions to Protect American Jobs Act, the legislation that the Chamber has concerns about. "The Chamber opposes this bill, which has not been subject to the scrutiny and deliberation required for a complex, far-reaching measure amending U.S. AD/CVD laws," the Chamber said. "This major overhaul of U.S. trade laws could add to inflationary pressures by raising costs for a wide variety of goods, including many products sourced from U.S. allies and partners."