The following lawsuits were recently filed at the Court of International Trade:
Aluminum extrusion importer Global Aluminum Distributor filed a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of Enforce and Protect A investigations, becoming the latest to challenge the process for countering antidumping duty evasion. In an April 28 complaint, Global Aluminum said CBP's EAPA process violated procedural requirements and the importer's constitutional rights related to due process and excessive fines, and that CBP is unfairly subjecting a company to two EAPA investigations for the same conduct and entries. Separate from other EAPA complaints, Global Aluminum claims that the duties assessed via the evasion finding constitutes a violation of the Eight Amendment for excessive fines.
Five aluminum extrusion importers evaded antidumping and countervailing duties on goods from China by commingling shipments in the Dominican Republic, CBP said in a Jan. 28 determination notice posted by the agency April 27. The finding is a result of an investigation that began following a 2019 allegation from the Aluminum Extrusions Fair Trade Committee (AEFTC) that the companies were evading AD/CV orders A-570-967 and C-570-968. The importers are Florida Aluminum Extrusion, Classic Metals Supplies, Global Aluminum Inc., H&E Home, Industrias Feliciano Aluminum Inc. JL Trading Corp. and Puertas y Ventanas J.M., Inc.
The Court of International Trade issued two opinions in antidumping and countervailing duty cases late on April 29. In one opinion, CIT sustained Commerce's second remand results for the 2016 countervailing duty administrative review on corrosion-resistant steel products from India, finding that the agency properly applied total adverse facts available when determining the duty rate for Indian exporter Uttam Galva Steels Limited.
The Commerce Department and the International Trade Commission published the following Federal Register notices April 28 on AD/CV duty proceedings:
Window wall kits imported by Reflection Window + Wall are not subject to antidumping and countervailing duties on aluminum extrusions from China (A-570-967/C-570-968), the Commerce Department said in a scope ruling issued April 26. The window wall kits qualify for the finished goods kit exemption, and are distinct from curtain wall units ineligible for exemptions from aluminum extrusions duties, Commerce said.
The Customs Rulings Online Search System (CROSS) was updated April 27 with the following headquarters rulings (ruling revocations and modifications will be detailed elsewhere in a separate article as they are announced in the Customs Bulletin):
The following lawsuits were recently filed at the Court of International Trade:
The scope of antidumping and countervailing duty orders cannot be expanded to include goods that were not part of the International Trade Commission's original injury determination, Thai steel exporter Saha Thai Steel Pipe Public Company argued in an April 27 reply brief to the Court of International Trade. Citing, among other things, the fact that the ITC's final injury determination did not cover tariff subheadings for dual-stenciled pipe, Saha seeks to overturn the Commerce Department's final scope ruling that dual-stenciled pipe is subject to antidumping duties on circular welded carbon steel pipes and tubes from Thailand (Saha Thai Steel Pipe Public Company Limited v. U.S., CIT #20-00133). Saha says the trade court is bound by the precedent of a 1998 Federal Circuit decision involving Wheatland Tube.
The Commerce Department’s failure to verify data submitted by an Indian exporter of forged steel fittings during an antidumping duty investigation conducted during the COVID-19 pandemic means the agency should be ordered to go back and reexamine the exporter’s zero rate, the petitioners from that investigation said in a brief filed April 26 seeking a Court of International Trade remand (Bonney Forge Corporation et al v. U.S., CIT # 20-03837).