Chinese wood cabinet and vanities exporter Dalian Meisen Woodworking Co. moved, unopposed, for a preliminary injunction against liquidation of its entries in a countervailing duty challenge at the Court of International Trade, in a Sept. 1 filing. That's despite the fact that the challenge is of the underlying countervailing duty investigation on the wood cabinet and vanities from China, and liquidation of the entries is suspended until the conclusion of the first administrative review (Dalian Meisen Woodworking Co., Ltd. v. U.S., CIT #20-00110).
The level of trade in the U.S. is irrelevant to the Universal Tube and Plastic Industries' argument that the Commerce Department incorrectly found there to be only a single level of trade in the home market in an antidumping duty case, plaintiffs led by Universal Tube argued in an Aug. 27 reply brief at the Court of International Trade. Seeing as the Department of Justice and the antidumping petitioner repeatedly raised this point to argue against Universal's position, it is unclear whether they did so to confuse the court with "irrelevant" details or just don't "understand the distinctions," the brief said (Universal Tube and Plastic Industries v. U.S., CIT # 20-03944).
The Commerce Department must reconsider its decision to collapse two mandatory respondents and one of their affiliates in an antidumping duty investigation on corrosion-resistant steel (CORE) products from Taiwan, the Court of International Trade ruled on Sept. 1, seeking to bring Commerce's results in line with a U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit mandate. Judge Timothy Stanceu also ordered Commerce to use facts otherwise available with an adverse inference on one of the respondent's reporting of yield strength in the investigation.
The Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit upheld a Court of International Trade ruling in a Sept. 2 order, finding it does not have jurisdiction to hear Chinese automobile parts exporter Wanxiang America Corporation's lawsuit. Claiming the trade court's residual Section 1581(i) jurisdiction, Wanxiang filed a due process claim against the Commerce Department's guidance to CBP instructing the customs agency to deny Wanxiang the company-specific antidumping duty rate for its tapered roller bearings entries and apply the country-wide rate. The appellate court found it would have had jurisdiction if there were a denied customs protest under Section 1581(a). CAFC also could have had Section 1581(c) jurisdiction if Wanxiang initiated a test shipment and sought an administrative review and remained unsuccessful in pursuing the company-specific rate, the court said.
The Commerce Department and the International Trade Commission published the following Federal Register notices Sept. 1 on AD/CV duty proceedings:
Panels need only two layers of veneer to be subject to antidumping and countervailing duties on hardwood plywood from China (A-570-051/C-570-052), the Commerce Department said in a preliminary scope ruling issued Aug. 26. Chinese two-ply panels processed into plywood in Vietnam by adding face and back veneers, then exported by Finewood Company Limited, a Vietnamese exporter implicated in an Enforce and Protect Act evasion investigation, are still of Chinese origin after the processing and are covered by AD/CV duties, Commerce said. Comments are due on or about Sept. 15.
The following lawsuits were recently filed at the Court of International Trade:
Aberrational Malaysian surrogate data is not enough to discard its use in favor of Romanian data in an antidumping duty administrative review, the Commerce Department said in an Aug. 30 reply brief. Responding to comments from the plaintiffs in the case over Commerce's remand, the agency also held that the determination should be upheld since the plaintiffs provided no evidence beyond the aberrancy of parts of the Malaysian data (Carbon Activated Tianjin Co., Ltd., et al. v. United States, CIT #20-00007).
The Commerce Department properly rejected data corrections submitted by exporter Goodluck India in an antidumping duty investigation on cold-drawn mechanical tubing from India, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit said in an Aug. 31 opinion, reversing the Court of International Trade's decision. The corrections were not “minor,” meaning that Commerce was justified when it originally rejected the revisions and hit Goodluck with an adverse facts available AD duty rate, a three-judge panel at the appellate court said.
The European Union's use of trade defense measures in 2020, including antidumping and countervailing duties, succeeded despite COVID-19-related challenges, the European Commission said in a post highlighting its actions against unfair trade practices of the past year. The EU noted its temporary changes to regular practices, such as on-site verification visits. The commission also released statistics regarding its trade remedies. In all, the EU had 150 trade defense measures at the end of 2020, 10 more than in 2019, that included 128 antidumping measures, 19 antisubsidy duties and three safeguard measures. Ninety-nine of the 150 were imposed on China, nine on Russia, seven on India and six on the U.S. The commission also highlighted its new countervailing duties on cross-border financial support given by China to Chinese-owned companies making glass fiber fabrics and continuous filament glass fiber made in Egypt for export to the EU.