The World Trade Organization recently posted the following notices:
The Commerce Department declared that China remains a non-market economy for antidumping duty purposes, ending a long-awaited review of the country sparked by changes to China’s World Trade Organization membership terms. The agency’s Oct. 26 memo, issued in the context of an AD duty investigation on aluminum foil from China, says China “does not operate sufficiently on market principles to permit the use of Chinese prices and costs” in Commerce AD duty cases. That means Commerce will continue to use contentious “surrogate” prices and costs that can result in higher or less predictable AD rates.
The Commerce Department is still “in the process” of looking into self-initiation of antidumping and countervailing duty investigations, said Daniel Calhoun, assistant chief counsel for trade enforcement and compliance at Commerce, at an event hosted by Case Western Reserve University law school on Oct. 27. Should the agency “decide to do it,” self-initiation would allow investigations to occur in industries that are not well-placed to ask for duties, Calhoun said. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross in April said Commerce had “begun the process of self-initiating trade cases” (see 1704140002).
Fifteen senators led by Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., expressed strong support for a petition by U.S. hardwood plywood manufacturers to restrict subsidized and dumped imports of their product from China, according to an Oct. 24 letter from the senators to the International Trade Commission. Since a 2012 petition was filed against Chinese hardwood plywood imports -- which ended in an ITC “no injury” vote in November 2013 and no antidumping or countervailing duties -- imports have increased another 40 percent, the letter says. “The hardwood plywood industry has suffered additional job losses despite increasing demand for wood products, more clearly demonstrating that material injury has occurred,” the senators wrote. “During the prior case, U.S. hardwood plywood manufacturers were operating at no more than 50 percent of their production capacity. Since then, that number has decreased further." The ITC is holding a hearing in connection with its final phase of its injury investigation on Oct. 26. The ITC is accepting comments on the investigation through Nov. 27.
The following lawsuits were filed at the Court of International Trade during the week of Oct. 16-22:
International Trade Today is providing readers with some of the top stories for Oct. 16-20 in case they were missed.
SAN DIEGO -- The Consumer Product Safety Commission in July began a yearlong internal study of the usefulness of obtaining certain compliance data prior to import, CPSC Office of Import Surveillance Deputy Director Jim Joholske said Oct. 23 during the National Association of Foreign-Trade Zones (NAFTZ) conference. The follow-up study, which began following completion of the six-month e-filing alpha pilot in December 2016 (see 1701270043), involves collecting existing product safety certificates of compliance each time a regular import exam is conducted, as part of an effort to determine the potential benefits of having the certificates’ data elements, pre-arrival, Joholske said.
Oracle topped early Q3 tech sector lobbying disclosures Friday, though many tech and telecom firms had not reported their own totals at our deadline. Oracle spent $3.82 million on lobbying during the quarter, a 90 percent increase from the same period last year. CTIA led industry groups on reported spending $2.14 million in the quarter, down from $2.77 million during the same period last year. Six groups claimed $240,000 in income for lobbying on CTIA’s behalf, and Les Brownlee & Associates reported $30,000 for lobbying for CTIA on behalf of top carriers AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon. Comcast topped early Q3 communications sector lobbying expenditures, though it hadn't filed its own report yet. Thirty outside firms reported $1.668 million in lobbying income from the company.
Oracle topped early Q3 tech sector lobbying disclosures Friday, though many tech and telecom firms had not reported their own totals at our deadline. Oracle spent $3.82 million on lobbying during the quarter, a 90 percent increase from the same period last year. CTIA led industry groups on reported spending $2.14 million in the quarter, down from $2.77 million during the same period last year. Six groups claimed $240,000 in income for lobbying on CTIA’s behalf, and Les Brownlee & Associates reported $30,000 for lobbying for CTIA on behalf of top carriers AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon. Comcast topped early Q3 communications sector lobbying expenditures, though it hadn't filed its own report yet. Thirty outside firms reported $1.668 million in lobbying income from the company.
The following lawsuits were filed at the Court of International Trade during the week of Oct. 9-15: