The Court of International Trade on April 3 again sent back Commerce’s third remand redetermination in an antidumping duty investigation of certain steel nails from Taiwan. Judge Claire Kelly ruled Commerce appeared to have misinterpreted a previous ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit that asked Commerce to better support its reasoning for using simple averages despite citing contradictory literature in previous cases.

The Court of International Trade on March 31 denied a motion to dismiss a fraud case against Florida businessman Zhe "John" Liu. Judge Jane Restani disagreed with Liu's argument that the statute of limitations ran from the time he directed the false entry filing and had expired, saying Congress specifically established that the statute of limitations in penalty cases is five years from the date of entry and that the courts have consistently held that the entry date is the moment that the statute begins to run.

The Court of International Trade in a March 21 opinion made public March 29 upheld parts and sent back parts of the Commerce Department's final results in the first administrative review of the countervailing duty order on aluminum foil from China. Judge Timothy Reif said Commerce properly rejected a benchmark submission from the respondents, led by Jiangsu Zhongji Lamination Materials Co., and legally calculated the benchmark for the primary aluminum program. Reif remanded the case on the grounds that the agency did not properly explain its decision to pick the Trade Data Monitor data source to calculate the aluminum plate/sheet program benchmark or its selection of data to calculate the benchmark for the land program.

The Court of International Trade on March 29 dismissed a lawsuit from cellphone case-maker Otter Products seeking interest on customs duty overpayments, finding it lacked jurisdiction to hear the case. Judge Claire Kelly held that the Administrative Procedure Act waiver of sovereign immunity applies only to interest on deposits that are linked with liquidated entries. As a result, there is no specific wavier of immunity related to Otter's claim for interest for its overpayments on tendered prior disclosures "under the no-interest rule," Kelly said.

Consistent classification of imported child safety seats for bicycles as seats rather than bicycle parts by the port of New York/Newark constitutes a "treatment" by CBP, Court of International Trade Judge Leo Gordon ruled in a March 24 opinion, granting summary judgment for importer Kent International. CBP classified some of the seats under subheading 8714.99.80 "other" bicycle parts, which carried a 10% duty rate. Kent claimed that the items were seats under the duty-free subheading 9401.80 and that CBP had violated the treatment provision with its classifications.

The Court of International Trade on March 20 denied motions for judgment from both an importer and the government in a case involving the valuation of allegedly defective plywood. Judge Jennifer Choe-Groves found that "genuine issues of material fact exist" as to the salvage value of the plywood, whether all the plywood was indeed defective, whether the importer, Bral, can tie the defective plywood to specific entries, and how the defects violate the underlying contract with the supplier.

The Court of International Trade sustained three antidumping and countervailing duty cases March 20, and uphold parts and remanded parts of the Commerce Department's determination in a fourth. Judge Jennifer Choe-Groves decided all four cases.

The Court of International Trade upheld the U.S. Trade Representative's Lists 3 and 4A tariff action under Section 301 on China in a widely-anticipated decision on March 17. After the tariffs were previously sent back over concerns of compliance with the Administrative Procedures Act, the USTR offered further explanations of its tariff decisions. Judges Mark Barnet, Claire Kelly and Jennifer Choe-Groves held that these explanations were not made impermissibly post hoc and cleared APA requirements.

The Court of International Trade on March 16 upheld the International Trade Commission's finding of critical circumstances in antidumping and countervailing duty investigations on small vertical shaft engines from China because of a surge in imports shortly before the antidumping and countervailing duties took effect. Judge M. Miller Baker ruled against plaintiff MTD Products' arguments that the ITC used faulty data and improperly weighed the data it did use. MTD said the ITC based its findings on export data subject to large lead times, inaccurate comparison periods and artificial increases in volume due to COVID-19. Baker said the "court will not second-guess" the ITC's findings.

The Court of International Trade on March 16 upheld the Commerce Department's final determination in the countervailing duty investigation into aluminum sheet from Turkey. Judge M. Miller Baker said that Commerce "easily" defeated respondent Teknik Aluminyum Sanayi's challenge to Commerce's use of a questionnaire in lieu of on-site verification since Teknik cited no authority requiring the agency to carry out a certain verification procedure during a global pandemic. Baker also upheld Commerce's use of partial adverse facts available over Teknik's failure to submit screenshots of audited financial statements and ledgers, citing Teknik's failure to submit certain information in the form and manner requested.