World Trade Organization committees could offer a path beyond the Dispute Settlement Body to settle trade-related issues, Baker McKenzie lawyers said in a Nov. 13 blog post. For instance, the Anti-Dumping Practices and Subsidies and Countervailing Measures committees offer a forum to settle "practical and strategic issues" faced by companies engaged in international trade, the post said.
Antidumping and countervailing duty petitioner Magnum Magnetics Corp. will appeal a September Court of International Trade decision excluding importer Siffron's plastic shelf dividers from the AD/CVD orders on raw flexible magnets from China. In the opinion, the trade court said the Commerce Department reasonably found that the scope language and the (k)(1) sources, including prior scope rulings and an International Trade Commission report, established that the dividers didn't belong in the scope of the orders (see 2309260049). The petitioner said in its Nov. 14 notice of appeal that it will take the case to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (Magnum Magnetics Corp. v. United States, CIT # 22-00254).
The U.S. asked the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit for a voluntary remand on Nov. 15 in an Enforce and Protect Act case so it can consider the appellate court's decision in Royal Brush Manufacturing v. U.S. In that decision, the Federal Circuit said CBP violated an EAPA respondent's due process rights by not giving it access to the business confidential information in the proceeding (see 2307270038) (American Pacific Plywood v. United States, Fed. Cir. # 23-2321).
Importer Midwest Air Technologies' swaged line and corner posts should be classified as parts for structures under Harmonized Tariff Schedule heading 7308, and not under a heading 7306 as "other tubes," Midwest Air said in a Nov. 14 complaint at the Court of International Trade. The company said that a prior customs ruling covering "the same or substantially similar merchandise" shows that swaged line and corner posts fit under heading 7308 and not 7306, freeing the company of Section 232 steel and aluminum duty liability (Midwest Air Technologies v. United States, CIT # 23-00240).
The Commerce Department again failed to adhere to the Court of International Trade's order concerning the agency's phosphate rock benefit calculations regarding countervailing duty respondent JSC Apatit's mining rights, exporter Phosagro and its affiliate, Apatit, argued in remand comments at the trade court. The companies said that the remand results, which didn't make any changes to its position in the CVD investigation of phosphate fertilizers from Russia, ignored the court's mandate regarding Commerce's use of Apatit's Profit Before Tax figure in its profit ratio instead of its Gross Profit Figure (The Mosaic Co. v. United States, CIT # 21-00117).
The Commerce Department failed to show on remand that antidumping duty respondent Nexco's acquisition prices are a "reasonable proxy for the cost of production of raw honey" as part of the AD investigation on raw honey from Argentina, Nexco said in remand comments at the Court of International Trade. Commerce's policy regarding unprocessed raw agricultural products where it bases cost of production on the cost of making the raw goods, even when the respondent isn't the producer, stands "in contrast to Commerce's policy regarding processed agricultural products where the exporter is the producer," the brief said (Nexco v. United States, CIT # 22-00203).
The U.S. articulated a theory of fraud but did not "plead fraud with particularity" in its case against importer Katana Racing seeking over $5.7 million in unpaid safeguard duties on Chinese tires, Katana argued in a renewed motion to dismiss at the Court of International Trade. Again seeking to dispatch of the case following the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit's remand kicking the matter back to the trade court, the importer said the govenrment's case did not touch on the "who, what, when, where, and how of the alleged fraud" as required by the Supreme Court in making a pleading, particularly one for fraud (United States v. Katana Racing, CIT # 19-00125).
The U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission suggested that Congress should pass legislation requiring the U.S. Judicial Conference to "prepare an evaluation and guidance for U.S. courts" on the Chinese legal system to aid courts in "assessing recognition of Chinese judgments." In its 2023 Report to Congress, the commission said that the Judicial Conference's guidance also would cover "change of venue, choice of law, and forum non conveniens inquiries."
The following lawsuit was recently filed at the Court of International Trade:
Exporter Habas Sinai ve Tibbi Gazlar Istihsal Endustrisi will appeal a September Court of International Trade decision sustaining the Commerce Department's use of the Turkish lira to value Habas' home-market sales as part of the 2018-19 review of the antidumping duty order on cold-rolled steel flat products from Turkey. The trade court said Commerce's use of the lira didn't deviate from its past practice or the established reasons underlying the practice (see 2309140049). Habas said it will take the case to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (Habas Sinai ve Tibbi Gazlar Istihsal Endustrisi v. United States, CIT # 21-00527).