NEW YORK -- International Trade Commissioner Rhonda Schmidtlein recommended that counsel arguing before the commission more clearly articulate the source of alternative data used in injury proceedings and submit contemporaneous data before hearings, where possible. Speaking at the Court of International Trade's 22nd Judicial Conference Oct. 10 during a panel discussion on the state of trade-related agencies, Schmidtlein offered tips to arguing counsel on how to best capture the attention of the commissioners and ensure more seamless and robust hearings.
The following lawsuits were recently filed at the Court of International Trade:
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit on Oct. 11 issued its mandate in an appeal of a case on the countervailing duty investigation on Russian phosphate fertilizers brought by exporters Phosagro PJSC and JSC Apatit. The appeal was previously dismissed by CAFC for failure to prosecute (see 2408200028). A separate appeal of the case from exporter Industrial Group Phosphorite continues at the court, with the company claiming that the Commerce Department contradicted the CVD statute in finding that the Russian government's provision of natural gas was de facto specific (see 2408080058) (The Mosaic Co. v. United States, Fed. Cir. # 24-1595).
A number of Canadian softwood lumber exporters, on one side of a case, and, on the other, defendant-intervenors led by a domestic trade group, filed in total three briefs supporting their respective motions for judgment (see 2404110063) in a case involving the Commerce Department’s alleged misapplication of the transactions disregarded test to increase the costs of a review’s mandatory respondent (Government of Canada v. United States, CIT Consol. # 23-00187).
A petitioner, a domestic lumber trade group, pushed back against the Commerce Department's ultimate post-remand finding that subsidies received by unaffiliated lumber suppliers were applicable to a few expedited Canadian lumber review respondents, but that those subsidies had no effect on the respondents’ rates. It again alleged that the department had made a “mathematical error” (Committee Overseeing Action for Lumber International Trade Investigations or Negotiations v. U.S., CIT # 19-00122).
The Commerce Department under protest on Oct. 10 reversed its finding that exporter Saha Thai Steel Pipe Public Co. and one of its customers, BNK Steel Co., are affiliated, on remand at the Court of International Trade. The decision lowered Saha Thai's antidumping duty rate in the 2020-21 review of the AD order on circular welded carbon steel pipes and tubes from Thailand, from 14.74% to 1.65% (Saha Thai Steel Pipe Public Co. v. United States, CIT # 21-00627).
The Court of International Trade on Oct. 10 sent back the Commerce Department's use of partial adverse facts available against exporter Nippon Steel for its failure to submit sales data from some of its U.S. affiliates in the third review of the antidumping duty order on hot-rolled steel flat products from Japan. Judge Stephen Vaden said Commerce failed to grapple with Nippon Steel's limitations under Japanese law to collect this data from its affiliates.
The Commerce Department and the International Trade Commission published the following Federal Register notices Oct. 11 on AD/CVD proceedings:
Exporter Can Tho Import Export Seafood Joint Stock Co. dismissed its appeal of the Commerce Department's 2021-22 review of the antidumping duty order on frozen fish fillets from Vietnam. The company brought the suit to contest Commerce's denial of the exporter's byproduct offsets for "fresh broken meat" and "fresh fish waste by-products" (see 2405140061). Can Tho also claimed that Commerce illegally liquidated some of its entries at the "punitive" Vietnam-wide rate instead of its own rate (Can Tho Import Export Seafood Joint Stock Co. v. United States, CIT # 24-00080).
The Court of International Trade on Oct. 11 sustained the Commerce Department's remand results in a case on the antidumping duty investigation on polyester textured yarn from Indonesia, dropping the AD rate for respondent PT. Asia Pacific Fibers TBK from 26.07% to 9.2%. On remand, Commerce allowed Asia Pacific to fix errors in its submissions. The respondent provided requested translations and a "narrative explanation of its reporting methodologies," allowing the agency to reconcile the company's sales and cost reporting. No party contested the result.