Importer Charman Manufacturing didn't evade antidumping duties on its malleable cast iron pipe fittings imported from China, CBP said in a July 5 determination. After looking into claims from Matco-Norca that Charman skirted the duties by transshipping the pipe fittings through Indonesia or Singapore, CBP said it didn't have substantial evidence proving these claims. The determination in the Enforce and Protect Act investigation is one of only a handful of times that CBP has come back with a negative evasion finding.
The Court of International Trade in a July 8 opinion dismissed importer Rimco's antidumping and countervailing duty challenge after finding that the claims lack subject-matter jurisdiction at the trade court. Judge Mark Barnett said that Rimco's Eighth Amendment claims could not proceed under Section 1581(a) since they are not contesting the liquidation of the steel wheel entries at issue but instead contest the Commerce Department's actions leading up to the high AD/CVD rates. The judge further ruled that Rimco's claims made under Section 1581(i), the court's "residual" jurisdiction, cannot stand since the importer could have requested an administrative review of the AD/CVD orders, clearly showing that other avenues of remedy were available.
The following lawsuits were recently filed at the Court of International Trade:
The Commerce Department's admission that the administrative case brief in an antidumping duty matter wasn't the right time to bring up arguments over verification procedures reveals the futility of raising verification concerns administratively, plaintiffs led by Ellwood City Forge argued to fight off claims that it failed to exhaust its administrative remedies. Submitting a notice of supplemental authority at the Court of International Trade, Ellwood said Commerce's remand results in a separate AD case declaring that 63 days was "far too late" to pursue a request for virtual verification in lieu of on-site verification due to COVID-19 restrictions indicates that raising the issue of virtual verification in the petitioner's case was futile (Ellwood City Forge Company v. U.S., CIT #21-00077).
The Senate Commerce Committee is poised to potentially mark up legislation that would establish a duty of care for social media platforms to protect children’s online privacy (see 2202160055), bill supporters told us.
The U.S.'s rationale for its motion to stay in an Enforce and Protect Act case at the Court of International Trade is "remarkable," and essentially concedes that CBP cannot back its evasion finding, plaintiffs Norca Industrial Co. and International Piping & Procurement Group (IPPG) said in a July 6 brief opposing the stay. The stay motion wants to halt proceedings at CIT so a covered merchandise referral can be issued to the Commerce Department, but the plaintiffs said that such a referral is not possible, the case has been narrowed to record issues and the move signals a concession on the facts (Norca Industrial Company v. United States, CIT Consol. #21-00192).
The following lawsuits were recently filed at the Court of International Trade:
The Court of International Trade properly held that President Donald Trump violated the law by revoking an exclusion on bifacial solar panels from the Section 201 safeguard duties, plaintiff-appellees led by the Solar Energy Industries Association and Invenergy Renewables said in two reply briefs at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. SEIA, in its brief, along with Nextera Energy, argued that the trade court correctly found that "all the tools of statutory construction" show that the law prevents trade-restrictive changes to the safeguard measure (Solar Energy Industries Association v. United States, Fed. Cir. #22-1392).
The following lawsuits were recently filed at the Court of International Trade:
A host of U.S. mattress producers and trade unions argued in a July 1 brief that the International Trade Commission's final affirmative injury determinations in antidumping and countervailing duty investigations on imported mattresses should be upheld at the Court of International Trade.