Proposed changes by the Commerce Department to its antidumping and countervailing duty regulations were met with a diverse array of responses from governments, producers, importers, lawyers and others, with particular focus on the agency's proposal to consider intellectual property, human rights and environmental protections in AD/CVD proceedings and proposed changes that would allow particular market situation adjustments to the sales-below-cost test.
Ben Perkins
Ben Perkins, Assistant Editor, is a reporter with International Trade Today and its sister publications, Trade Law Daily and Export Compliance Daily, where he covers sanctions, court rulings, and other international trade issues. He previously worked as a trade analyst for a Washington D.C. advisory firm. Ben holds a B.A. in English from the University of New Hampshire and an M.A. in International Relations from American University. Ben joined the staff of Warren Communications News in 2022.
The Commerce Department shouldn't have rejected a questionnaire response in an antidumping duty investigation on utility scale wind towers from Spain, considering that the agency relied on responses from the relevant company on remand, Siemens Gemesa Renewable Energy argued in its July 17 remand comments at the Court of International Trade (Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy v. U.S., CIT # 21-00449).
The Commerce Department's use of alternative characteristics of superabsorbent polymers supplied by antidumping respondent LG Chem to set control numbers (CONNUMs) in an AD investigation should be remanded, The Ad Hoc Coalition of American SAP Producers said in a July 14 motion for judgment at the Court of International Trade. The coalition said the department's use of unverified and unrequested alternative superabsorbent polymer characteristics contravened an established practice (The Ad Hoc Coalition of American SAP Producers v. U.S., CIT # 23-00010).
The Commerce Department reversed its imposition of total adverse facts available on antidumping duty respondent Oman Fasteners in its July 17 remand results, resulting in a complete removal of a 154.33% AD rate for the company, Oman Fasteners, Commerce had ruled had failed to cooperate to the best of its ability because it did not submit all of its responses to a supplemental questionnaire by the deadline. The single late submission missed Commerce's cut-off time by 16 minutes and Court of International Trade Judge M. Miller Baker said that the ensuing suit was "not a close case" when he remanded the results in a February opinion (see 2302280040) (Oman Fasteners v. U.S., CIT # 22-00348)..
The following are short summaries of recent CBP NY rulings issued by the agency's National Commodity Specialist Division in New York:
The Commerce Department ignored evidence against an objector's claim that it could provide domestic tin mill products to make up the shortfall when it denied Section 232 exclusion requests for tin mill products by Seneca Foods, the company continued to argue during July 11 oral arguments at the Court of International Trade (Seneca Foods Corp. v. U.S., CIT # 22-00243).
The Commerce Department shouldn't have relied on adverse facts available in an antidumping duty review on tapered roller bearings from China for a fully cooperative entity that attempted to obtain information from its suppliers but couldn't secure their cooperation, Chinese bearing exporter Shanghai Tainai Bearing said in a July 13 motion for judgment at the Court of International Trade. Court precedent doesn't require a party to provide information not in its possession and which it can't reasonably obtain, the company said (Shanghai Tainai Bearing v. U.S., CIT # 23-00020).
The Commerce Department stuck with its use of adverse facts available for countervailing duty respondent Risen Energy for its alleged use of China's Export Buyer's Credit Program, in spite of a second Court of International Trade remand requiring Commerce to reconsider the issue, among others. In the remand results, Commerce also reevaluated its use of Thai land prices when calculating benefits for respondents JA Solar and Risen and its benchmark data for ocean freight, dropping JA Solar's CVD rate from 7.75% to 7.68% and Risen's from 9.84% to 9.69% (Risen Energy v. U.S., CIT # 20-03912).
The following are short summaries of recent CBP NY rulings issued by the agency's National Commodity Specialist Division in New York:
The Court of International Trade erred by sustaining the Commerce Department’s conclusions regarding cost smoothing, cost reconciliation, and differential pricing in the antidumping duty investigation on wind towers from Canada, respondent Marmem said in a July 10 opening brief at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (Marmen v. U.S., Fed. Cir. # 2023-1877).