Importers J. Conrad and Metropolitan Staple Corp. filed a stipulation of dismissal on Feb. 5 with the Court of International Trade in both of their cases challenging the expansion of the Section 232 steel and aluminum duties onto derivative products. The dismissals were filed in the wake of the Supreme Court's decision not to review a case from exporter Oman Fasteners on the same issue (see 2401080037). The high court's refusal to hear the case marked the sixth time the court turned down the opportunity to review presidential Section 232 action taken under President Donald Trump. The cases brought by J. Conrad and Metropolitan Staple Corp. were stayed until the Oman Fastener matter was final (J. Conrad Ltd v. United States, CIT # 20-00052) (Metropolitan Staple Corp. v. United States, CIT # 20-00053).
The U.S. waived its right to file a response to a U.S. Supreme Court petition in a False Claims Act case brought by whistleblower Brutus Trading. Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar said in the government's waiver, filed Feb. 2, that it won't respond to the petition "unless requested to do so by the Court" (Brutus Trading v. Standard Chartered, Sup. Ct. # 23-813).
In a Jan. 31 supplemental filing after oral arguments held a week earlier by the Court of International Trade, petitioners again rejected the Commerce Department's calculation of a Turkish exporter's duty drawback adjustment. On the same day, DOJ pushed back in its own supplemental filings on a pair of questions from the court (Assan Aluminyum Sanayi ve Ticaret v. U.S., CIT #21-00246).
A Canadian steel products exporter asked the Court of International Trade to reverse a Jan. 31 dismissal of six of its cases for failure to prosecute, saying its lawyers had accidentally overlooked the deadline while negotiating with the government out of court (Arcelormittal Long Products Canada G.P. v. U.S., CIT # 21-00037, -00038, -00039, -00040, -00041, -00042).
German exporters, led by Ilsenburger Grobblech, filed an opening brief at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit challenging the Commerce Department's decision to use adverse facts available against exporter Salzgitter Mannesmann Stahlhandel in an antidumping duty investigation on cut-to-length carbon and alloy steel plate from Germany (Ilsenburger Grobblech GmbH v. United States, Fed. Cir. # 24-1219).
The following lawsuit was recently filed at the Court of International Trade:
The U.S. on Feb. 2 asked the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit for another 60 days to file its opening brief in a case on the Commerce Department's antidumping duty investigation on hardwood plywood from China. All parties consented to the request (Linyi Chengen Import and Export Co. v. U.S., Fed. Cir. # 24-1258).
Technology companies, trade groups, think tanks and researchers urged the government to be cautious as it evaluates its semiconductor-related export controls and prepares new ones, warning that misguided restrictions could cede American technology leadership to China, hurt the competitiveness of U.S. companies and raise the complexity of an already fraught compliance landscape.
The U.S. said in a Jan. 25 stipulation that it won't oppose an argument from Auxin Solar and Concept Clean Energy that the Court of International Trade has the power to tell the U.S. to reliquidate certain entries in a suit challenging the Commerce Department's pause on antidumping and countervailing duties covering solar cells from four Southeast Asian countries. The U.S. stipulation covers entries that were unliquidated as of the date of an order from CIT that accepts DOJ's stipulation but that subsequently liquidate before the case is resolved (Auxin Solar v. United States, CIT # 23-00274).
The Commerce Department’s “ex parte” meeting with a domestic producer prior to a scope ruling was “egregious” and demonstrated how the scope ruling process is unfair, a tilemaker said Jan. 31 at the Court of International Trade in response to comments from the U.S. and a domestic petitioner on its motion for summary judgment (Elysium Tiles v. U.S., CIT # 23-00041).