Jacob Kopnick

JSW Steel (USA) is accusing three U.S. steelmakers of a conspiracy and group "boycott" to hinder JSW's ability to make and sell competing steel products, according to a June 8 complaint in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas. Following the imposition of Section 232 tariffs on steel and aluminum in 2018, JSW claims U.S. Steel, Nucor and AK Steel owner Cleveland-Cliffs, which control 80% of domestic steel capacity, colluded to refuse to sell raw material to JSW.

Steel rebar importer Power Steel Co. paid Section 232 duties on its imports, and those payments were eligible to be deducted from its U.S. price in an antidumping case, the Department of Justice argued in a June 9 brief in the Court of International Trade (Power Steel Co., Ltd. v. United States, CIT #20-03771).

The Commerce Department's decision on remand to reverse its affirmative determination that certain hardwood plywood products from China circumvented antidumping and countervailing duties "defies a wealth of evidence about what actually occurred in the hardwood plywood market," petitioner Coalition for Fair Trade in Hardwood Plywood said in June 7 comments on Commerce's remand results. Commerce ignored multiple pieces of contradictory evidence in making its determination following a Court of International Trade opinion remanding the case and made a determination that undermines its own conclusion that certain hardwood plywood was not "later-developed" after the AD/CVD orders, the coalition said (Shelter Forest International Acquisition, Inc. et al v. United States, CIT #19-00212).

The "U.S. shipping point" must be a location from which tomatoes ship from inside the U.S., and any expenses between the U.S. border and that point should be included in reference prices under the 2019 antidumping duty suspension agreement on Mexican tomatoes, Mexican exporters said in a June 3 memo. The memo responds to allegations of non-compliance during an administrative review of the agreement from the Florida Tomato Exchange, which says imports should be judged based on the price immediately after crossing the border. The FTE's interpretation cuts directly against the plain language of the agreement and uses an interpretation of the term "free on board (FOB) U.S. shipping point" that would lead to "absurd results" in how the agreement is applied, the Mexican growers said.

The Commerce Department "finally" came to a conclusion in an antidumping administrative review on large power transformers from South Korea that is in line with "record facts, the law and basic standards of investigative fairness," mandatory respondent Hyosung Heavy Industries Corporation said in June 7 comments on remand results. Joined by the other mandatory respondent Hyundai Heavy Industries and the Department of Justice, Hyosung voiced its approval of the remand results in the Court of International Trade, which scrapped the application of total adverse facts available after DOJ requested a voluntary remand to "reconsider" the original determinations (Hyundai Heavy Industries Co., Ltd. v. United States, CIT #18-00066).

The Court of International Trade issued a confidential opinion in an antidumping case on welded line pipe from South Korea sustaining the Commerce Department's remand results in part and remanding in part, according to a June 7 filing. According to a letter filed by Judge Claire Kelly, the public version of the decision is expected either on or shortly after June 15 once all parties review bracketed information to determine its level of confidentiality. The case, originally filed by Husteel Co., concerns, among other things, Commerce's finding of a particular market situation in Korea for welded line pipe, the agency's reliance, or lack thereof, on a mandatory respondent's third country sales to calculate normal value and Commerce's reclassification of a respondent's reported losses associated with suspended production as general and administrative expenses.

The Commerce Department should have used the highest margin for the sole mandatory respondent in an antidumping case since the agency decided to rely on adverse facts available in the investigation, domestic silicon metal producers Globe Specialty Metals and Mississippi Silicon said in a June 7 complaint in the Court of International Trade. The two producers also challenged Commerce's decision to disregard that rate based on a financial statement from a firm "whose financial results were dominated by operations unrelated to the production of silicon metal" (Globe Specialty Metals, Inc. and Mississippi Silicon LLC v. United States, CIT #21-00231).

The Department of Justice requested in a June 3 filing that the Court of International Trade clarify what the correct standard of review is for the court's remand of a trade adjustment assistance case (see 2105040032). The clarification request comes after a May 4 CIT remand that found that the Labor Department failed to discuss or even reference the evidence of why trade adjustment assistance was necessary in its determination (Communications Workers of America Local 4123, on behalf of Former Employees of AT&T Services, Inc. v. United States Secretary of Labor, CIT #20-00075).

The Court of International Trade dismissed a case from Imperia Trading involving the first sale treatment of the company's imports from China, based on a joint stipulation filed by Imperia and the Justice Department, according to a June 4 order from Chief Judge Mark Barnett. Prior to the dismissal, Barnett had denied Imperia's motion to stay proceedings until a related opinion came from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit on the status of first sale valuation for imports from a non-market economy (see 2106030046) (Imperia Trading, Inc. v. United States, CIT #15-00142).

Three entries of crystaline silicon photovoltaic (CSPV) products should not have been assessed antidumping and countervailing duties since the importer properly selected entry dates on its entry summary that preceeded the effective date of a scope ruling that found them covered by AD/CVD orders, Puerto Rico company Aireko Construction argued in a June 4 motion for summary judgment. Though Aireko had indicated the newly selected entry dates in a timely amendment to its protest, CBP ignored the amendment when it assessed AD/CV duties as if the entries had been filed after the scope ruling took effect, Aireko said (Aireko Construction LLC. v. United States, CIT #20-00128).