Importer Global Aluminum Distributor in a June 24 reply brief dropped its opposition to defendant-intervenor Aluminum Extrusions Fair Trade Committee's bid to lift the stay order at the Court of International Trade in an Enforce and Protect Act case looking into aluminum extrusions from China. The action was brought by H&E Home and Classic Metals Suppliers, later joined by Global Aluminum as a consolidated plaintiff, to contest the CBP's finding that the plaintiffs were evading the antidumping and countervailing duty orders on aluminum extrusions by transshipping them through the Dominican Republic. The case was stayed pending the resolution in another matter brought by Global Aluminum over CBP's evasion finding (H&E Home v. United States, CIT Consol. #21-00337).
The Court of International Trade in a June 24 opinion denied plaintiff Dr. Bronner's Magic Soaps' move to amend its complaint in an Enforce and Protect Act evasion case to explicitly contest CBP's denial of its protests over the xanthan gum entries subject to the EAPA decision. Judge Gary Katzmann said that the motion was clearly untimely and futile, and found that the delay in filing the amended complaint was undue and that the plaintiff still fails to identify the protests it is contesting.
The Commerce Department and the International Trade Commission published the following Federal Register notices June 24 on AD/CVD proceedings:
The following lawsuits were recently filed at the Court of International Trade:
Plaintiffs in an Enforce and Protect Act case and the U.S. filed a joint motion for judgment after CBP said in remand results at the Court of International Trade that it no longer believes importers Global Aluminum Distributor and Hialeah Aluminum Supply evaded the antidumping and countervailing duty orders on aluminum extrusions from China. In the joint motion, counsel for Global Aluminum, Hialeah, the U.S. and Dominican exporter Kingtom Aluminio said that the court should sustain the remand results since no party contests CBP's position. In the remand results, CBP took another look at the record and said that it cannot conclude that evasion took place (see 2206150047) (Global Aluminum Distributor v. United States, CIT #21-00198).
A remand where the Commerce Department reviews a particular issue is a new agency action and renders moot any arguments that a party did not exhaust its administrative remedies prior to the remand, said plaintiffs in an antidumping duty case, led by Ellwood City Forge Co., in a reply brief at the Court of International Trade on June 17. As such, the plaintiffs' arguments as to the agency's procedural obligations relating to on-site verification made during the remand proceeding were properly exhausted, the brief, recently made public, said (Ellwood City Forge Company v. U.S., CIT Consol. #21-00007).
The World Trade Organization published the agenda for the June 30 meeting of the Dispute Settlement Body, which includes U.S. status reports on the implementation of recommendations adopted by the DSB on antidumping measures on certain hot-rolled steel products from Japan; antidumping and countervailing measures on large residential washers from South Korea; certain methodologies and their application to antidumping proceedings involving China; and Section 110(5) of the U.S. Copyright Act. A status report is also expected from Indonesia on measures relating to the import of horticultural products, animals and animal products, and from the EU on measures affecting the approval and marketing of biotech products.
The following lawsuits were recently filed at the Court of International Trade:
The International Trade Commission correctly found domestic industry was injured by imported mattresses in a set of antidumping and countervailing duty investigations, the commission said in a June 13 brief filed at the Court of International Trade. Despite arguments that the ITC failed to account for differences between mattresses-in-a-box and flat-pack mattresses, the commission said that it reasonably found the market segments interchangeable in AD/CVD investigations on mattresses from Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Malaysia, Serbia, Thailand, Turkey and Vietnam (CVB, Inc. v. U.S., CIT #21-00288).
The Commerce Department improperly deducted Section 232 steel and aluminum duties from antidumping respondent Nippon Steel's U.S. price in an antidumping review, non-selected company Tokyo Steel Manufacturing said in a June 22 complaint at the Court of International Trade. Further, the agency erred by increasing the total cost of manufacturing to account for Nippon Steel's purchases of iron ore from its affiliated suppliers, the brief said (Tokyo Steel Manufacturing v. U.S., CIT #22-00180).