The Commerce Department found that importer Star Pipe Products' 11 ductile iron flanges are not subject to the antidumping duty order on cast iron pipe fittings from China, in Dec. 22 remand results submitted to the Court of International Trade, though it did so under protest (Star Pipe Products v. United States, CIT #17-00236).
The U.S. will not appeal a recent World Trade Organization dispute settlement body ruling which found that its countervailing duties on ripe olives from Spain violated WTO rules, the U.S. said at the Dec. 20 meeting of the DSB. A panel at the DSB found that the U.S. erred when finding that subsidies given to Spanish raw olive growers under the European Union's Common Agricultural Policy were specific to the olive growers, a finding that was inconsistent with measures in the WTO's Agreement on Subsidies and Countervailing Measures (see 2111190028). The U.S., in its comments to the body, said that it will permit the report to be adopted despite expressing being "disappointed" with a few of the panel's findings.
Rep. Brian Higgins, D-N.Y. , introduced a bill that would give the Commerce Department the authority to consider the effect of excess production capacity in non-market economies to determine the threat of material injury in countervailing and antidumping duty investigations. The bill was introduced Dec. 20; no text is filed yet. There are no co-sponsors.
The following lawsuits were recently filed at the Court of International Trade:
The plaintiffs and plaintiff-intervenors in an antidumping case are appealing the Court of International Trade's decision to uphold the Commerce Department's surrogate pick, the litigants said in a Dec. 21 notice of appeal. In an administrative review of the antidumping duty order on activated carbon from China, Commerce picked Malaysia as the primary surrogate despite still using a Romanian company's financial statements to determine the surrogate financial ratios (see 2110250027). The court also upheld the agency's surrogate value selection for bituminous coal, an input of activated carbon, and Commerce's financial ratio calculations. The case will be appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. The plaintiffs, Carbon Activated Tianjin, Carbon Activated Corporation and Datong Juqiang Activated Carbon, along with plaintiff-intervenors Beijing Pacific Activated Carbon Products, Ningxia Guanghua Cherishmet Activated Carbon, Ningxia Mineral & Chemical and Shanxi Sincere Industrial, are appealing the case (Carbon Activated Tianjin v. U.S., CIT #20-00007).
The Commerce Department's use of adverse facts available in a countervailing duty review over the respondents' alleged use of China's Export Buyer's Credit Program is not backed by sufficient evidence, nonselected respondent Evolutions Flooring and Struxtur said in a Dec. 20 complaint. Filing at the Court of International Trade, the companies also contested Commerce's calculations for various inputs' less-than-adequate remuneration programs (Evolutions Flooring v. U.S., CIT #21-00591).
The Court of International Trade should reject exporter The Ancientree Cabinet Co.'s argument that the Commerce Department's calculation of financial ratios in an antidumping duty investigation is inconsistent with the agency's practice, defendant-intervenor American Kitchen Cabinet Alliance said in a Dec. 21 brief. In the reply to Ancientree's comments on Commerce's remand results, the AKCA also said Ancientree's argument against the accuracy of Commerce's financial ratio calculation is meritless because using more line items doesn't always result in more accuracy (The Ancientree Cabinet Co., Ltd. v. U.S., CIT # 20-00114).
The Commerce Department continued to find in Dec. 21 remand results submitted to the Court of International trade that certain flanges are subject to the antidumping duty order on cast iron pipe fittings from China. Holding that the flanges from Crane Resistoflex have the physical characteristics described in the scope's first paragraph, the agency again defended its position that Crane's flanges are within the scope of the order. In line with CIT's instructions, though, Commerce also dropped its arguments defending its scope decision using the AD petition, ITC report and past scope determinations (MCC Holdings dba Crane Resistoflex v. U.S., CIT #18-00248).
The following lawsuits were recently filed at the Court of International Trade:
An extension of the scheduling order isn't needed in a countervailing duty case, brought by The Mosaic Company, after the Court of International Trade granted a litigant's motion to amend its complaint to add a new claim, the litigants told the court in a Dec. 17 letter. Consolidated plaintiff Industrial Group Phosphorite sought to amend its complaint in the action to add a single count challenging the Commerce Department's de facto specificity determination over the alleged natural gas subsidy program. In a Nov. 19 order, Judge Jane Restani granted the amendment despite opposition from other litigants (The Mosaic Company, et al. v. United States, CIT #21-00117). The overarching case concerns Commerce's final results in the countervailing duty investigation of phosphate fertilizers from Russia. In the letter to Restani, though, Mosaic said that it conferred with the other parties, and they all agreed that no further amendment to the briefing schedule is necessary. "In light of that argument’s short length, and considering February 2022 deadlines Mosaic faces in other cases before the Court that would necessitate substantial extensions of the deadlines in this case if extensions were to be of any practical value, Mosaic believes amendment of the scheduling order is not warranted at this time," the letter said.