Defendant-intervenors opposed Oct. 15 an exporter’s motion for judgment, supporting an affirmative Commerce Department circumvention determination regarding circular welded steel pipe imports from Vietnam. The department claimed the pipe actually originated from South Korea, India and China (SeAH Steel Vina Corp. v. United States, CIT Consol. #s 23-00256, -00257, -00258).
The Court of International Trade in a confidential Oct. 18 order sustained in part and remanded in part the Commerce Department's countervailing duty investigation on passenger vehicle and light truck tires from Vietnam. Judge Timothy Reif gave the parties until Oct. 25 to review the confidential information in the decision for potential bracketing. The suit was brought by exporter Kumho Tire (Vietnam), which received a 7.89% CVD rate and claimed that Commerce can't countervail Vietnam's currency valuation practices (see 2206030027) (Kumho Tire (Vietnam) Co. v. United States, CIt # 21-00397).
AD/CVD petitioner Dexstar Wheel Division of Americana Development on Oct. 15 opposed importer Lionshead Specialty Tire and Wheel's motion to amend a preliminary injunction in an antidumping and countervailing duty evasion case on steel trailer wheels to allow CBP to liquidate some of its entries. Dexstar said Lionshead failed to show that its entries are the specific type of wheels found by the Commerce Department to be excluded from the AD/CVD orders on the steel trailer wheels from China (Dexter Distribution Group LLC v. U.S., CIT Consol. # 24-00019).
The Court of International Trade on Oct. 21 remanded the Commerce Department's 2020 review of the countervailing duty order on rebar from Turkey. Judge Gary Katzmann said Commerce failed to support its finding that exporter Kaptan Demir Celik Endustrisi ve Ticaret's exemption from Turkey's 0.2% Banking and Insurance Transactions Tax on foreign exchange transactions was de jure specific, noting the agency didn't establish the tax exemption was limited by enterprise or industry. Katzmann also sent back Commerce's rejection of a report prepared by Cushman & Wakefield to value land used for free by Kaptan's affiliated supplier. The judge said Commerce didn't base its rejection of the report "on a sound legal basis."
The Commerce Department and the International Trade Commission published the following Federal Register notices Oct. 18 on AD/CVD proceedings:
Importer Phoenix Metal Co. on Oct. 16 voluntarily dismissed its appeal of an Enforce and Protect Act proceeding at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. The Court of International Trade sustained CBP's finding that the company evaded the antidumping and countervailing duty orders on cast iron soil pipe from China by transshipping the pipe through Cambodia (see 2406100027). The trade court rejected Phoenix's due process claims, which faulted CBP for failing to notify the company that it was subject to an interim EAPA investigation, finding that Phoenix failed to allege that it suffered specific-enough harm by being subject to the interim measures without adequate notice. Counsel for Phoenix declined to comment on the decision to drop the appeal (Phoenix Metal v. U.S., CIT # 23-00048).
U.S. importer Houston Shutters on Oct. 16 told the Court of International Trade that the Commerce Department improperly declined to open a changed circumstances review to exclude wood shutter components from the scope of the antidumping and countervailing duty orders on wood moldings and millwork products from China. Filing a complaint at the trade court, Houston Shutters said Commerce bucked its statutory mandate that the agency "shall conduct a review" (Houston Shutters v. U.S., CIT # 24-00193)
A German exporter of forged steel fluid end blocks brought a complaint Oct. 16 to the Court of International Trade arguing that the Commerce Department, in a review of the antidumping duty order on its products, illegally expanded the scope of the AD order to include forged steel products that weren’t fluid end blocks (BGH Edelstahl Siegen GmbH v. U.S., CIT # 24-00176).
The U.S. will pay over $3 million in duty refunds with interest to importer Kiswire related to duty payments the company paid on its wire rod entries from South Korea. Filing a stipulated judgment with the Court of International Trade on Oct. 16, Kiswire and the government agreed to settle Kiswire's challenge against the antidumping duties assessed on its imports (Kiswire v. U.S., CIT Consol. # 22-00181).
The Commerce Department and the International Trade Commission published the following Federal Register notices Oct. 17 on AD/CVD proceedings: