The Commerce Department on remand at the Court of International Trade revised the duty drawback adjustment for exporter Assan Aluminyum Sanayi ve Ticaret, resulting in a de minimis antidumping duty rate for the company in the AD investigation on common alloy aluminum sheet from Turkey (Assan Aluminyum Sanayi ve Ticaret v. United States, CIT # 21-00246).

The Court of International Trade on Aug. 1 said the International Trade Commission didn't establish an agency practice of considering U.S. investments by foreign producers as a distinctive condition of competition for cumulation analyses. Judge Gary Katzmann rejected exporter BlueScope Steel's claim that the ITC departed from its past practice in cumulating Australian hot-rolled steel exports with other nations' shipments as part of the five-year sunset review of the antidumping duty order on the steel goods.

The U.S. brought a complaint July 31 against a limited liability company and its owner for dodging antidumping duties on steel hangers, which it alleged “decimated the steel wire hanger manufacturing industry, leading to the closure of many manufacturing facilities across the United States and the loss of hundreds of U.S. jobs” (United States v. Zhe “John” Liu, CIT # 24-00132).

Plaintiffs in the massive Section 301 litigation said the U.S. Supreme Court's recent decision in Loper Bright v. Raimondo, which overturned the Chevron principle of deferring to federal agencies' interpretations of ambiguous statutes (see 2406280051), is relevant to the consequential litigation concerning the lists 3 and 4A Section 301 duties (HMTX Industries v. U.S., Fed. Cir. # 23-1891).

The Court of International Trade again remanded the Commerce Department's decision to continue using adverse facts available against countervailing duty respondent The Ancientree Cabinet Co. related to its alleged receipt of benefits under China's Export Buyer's Credit Program. In a July 22 decision made public July 30, Judge Richard Eaton instructed the agency to "determine a customer-specific rate that excludes" the EBCP subsidy amount for Ancientree's U.S buyers "whose non-use" of the program was verified.

The Court of International Trade on July 30 sustained the Commerce Department's decision on remand to remove exporter Nagase's compensation for payment expense from the company's general and administrative expense ratio. Judge Stephen Vaden also said that Nagase failed to exhaust its administrative remedies pertaining to its challenge to Commerce's assessment rate in the first review of the antidumping duty order on glycine from Japan.

The Court of International Trade on July 29 sustained the Commerce Department's decision on remand to slash exporter Meihua Group International Trading (Hong Kong)'s antidumping duty rate from 154.07%, based on adverse facts available, to zero percent in the 2019-20 review of the AD order on xanthan gum from China.

Trade Law Daily is providing readers with the top stories from last week, in case you missed them. All articles can be found by searching on the title or by clicking on the hyperlinked reference number.

A U.S. District Court in Kentucky on July 24 said that the U.S. statute barring the smuggling of goods from the U.S. covers only material items and doesn't extend to emails. U.S. District Judge for Western Kentucky David Hale dismissed a charge against defense contractor Quadrant Magnetics, along with several of its employees, which said the parties smuggled goods from the U.S. by "emailing magnet schematics to Chinese manufacturers."

The Court of International Trade on July 26 sent back the Commerce Department's consideration of alternative time periods in using the Cohen's d test to detect "masked" dumping in the 2020-21 review of the antidumping duty order on circular welded carbon-quality steel pipe from the United Arab Emirates.