The Commerce Department violated the law in finding that Nur Gemicilik is a cross-owned input supplier of Turkish exporter and mandatory countervailing duty review respondent Kaptan Demir Celik Endustrisi ve Ticaret, Kaptan argued in a May 12 complaint at the Court of International Trade. While Nur provided Kaptan with scrap generated from its shipbuilding enterprise, the amount was "extremely miniscule," precluding Nur from being a cross-owned input supplier, the complaint said (Kaptan Demir Celik Endustrisi ve Ticaret v. U.S., CIT #22-00149).
The Court of International Trade in a May 13 opinion sustained the Commerce Department's drop of facts available after the court made the agency give antidumping duty respondent Hyundai Steel Co. the chance to explain a discrepancy between the reporting of two data fields. The petitioner, U.S. Steel Corp., argued that the results should not be sustained given Hyundai's shifting narratives on the discrepancy. Judge Richard Eaton was not persuaded, however, arguing that since Hyundai gave Commerce the information it requested, the respondent replied to the best of its ability.
The Commerce Department has failed to rebut importer M S International's position that the agency failed to get adequate industry support to initiate its antidumping and countervailing duty investigations on quartz surface products from India, the importer told the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in a May 11 reply brief. Commerce failed to take into account QSP fabricators in the domestic industry support conclusion, MSI said. In fact, the statute does not allow Commerce to label manufacturers as responsible for "production processes" that create covered merchandise and then allow the agency to exclude them from the domestic support question through a filter of "production-related activities" test, the brief said (Pokarna Engineered Stone Limited v. United States, Fed. Cir. #22-1077).
The Commerce Department properly found affiliated antidumping duty respondents Ghigi 1870 and Pasta Zara failed to cooperate to the best of their ability in reporting the U.S. payment dates for their pasta sales, the Court of International Trade ruled in a May 4 opinion made public May 13. Returning to the trade court to further explain its use of an adverse inference, Commerce said Ghigi's and Zara's errors in reporting their U.S. payment dates was due to "inattention and carelessness." Judge Richard Eaton agreed, upholding the remand.
The Commerce Department and the International Trade Commission published the following Federal Register notices May 13 on AD/CVD proceedings:
The following lawsuits were recently filed at the Court of International Trade:
The Court of International Trade in a May 12 confidential opinion remanded the Commerce Department's final determination in the countervailing duty investigation on wood cabinets and vanities from China. In a letter on the opinion, Judge Richard Eaton told litigants to return to the court by May 19 after reviewing the opinion for business confidential information. The case was brought by Chinese exporter Dalian Meisen Woodworking Co. to contest Commerce's position on China's Export Buyer's Credit Program and use of a different plywood benchmark for different companies despite the fact that they used the same types of plywood (Dalian Meisen Woodworking Co. v. United States, CIT #20-00110).
The Commerce Department's decision to accept mandatory antidumping duty respondent Gujarat Fluorochemicals Limited's method for reporting its U.S. movement expenses was illegal, U.S. manufacturer Daikin America argued in a May 12 complaint at the Court of International Trade. Gujarat Fluorochemicals' ignored Commerce's instructions to report its sales expenses on a transaction-specific basis, which should have prompted the use of adverse facts available, the complaint said (Daikin America v. United States, CIT #22-00122).
The Court of International Trade told the Commerce Department in a May 12 opinion that if it doesn't appeal its position on China's Export Buyer's Credit Program, it must explain why the court should not provide some sort of "equitable relief" including an injunction on the continued imposition of countervailing duties on the program. Judge Jane Restani also remanded Commerce's positions relating to its land value and ocean freight benchmarks while upholding the agency's specificity finding for the subsidization of energy in China.
The Court of International Trade in a May 13 opinion upheld the Commerce Department's remand results in a case brought by Hyundai Steel Co. over the first administrative review of the antidumping duty order on cold-rolled steel flat products from South Korea. On remand, Commerce dropped its reliance on facts available for Hyundai over a discrepancy in the reporting on two data fields once the agency gave the respondent a chance to clear up why the discrepancy existed. The petitioner, U.S. Steel Corp., urged for the continued use of facts available. Judge Richard Eaton wasn't persuaded, though, finding that since Hyundai gave the requested information, Commerce made the right call in dropping the use of facts available.