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.

The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York set a plea proceeding for former FBI agent Charles McGonigal in a case charging him with violating U.S. sanctions on Russia. Judge Jennifer Rearden set the Aug. 15 proceeding on word that McGonigal "may wish to enter" a guilty plea (U.S. v. Charles McGonigal, S.D.N.Y. # 23-00016).

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit should stay a case concerning an antidumping duty investigation after the termination of a suspension agreement on tomatoes from Mexico while two related cases are being considered at the lower court, Mexican exporter Bioparques de Occidente said in an Aug. 8 motion to stay (Bioparques de Occidente, S.A. de C.V., et al. v. U.S., Fed. Cir. # 23-2109).

The Commerce Department stuck by its position that Germany's KAV program is de jure specific and can be countervailed as part of the countervailing duty investigation on forged steel fluid end blocks from Germany. Submitting its remand results to the Court of International Trade Aug. 7, Commerce said that because the German government, through legislation, limited access to the program's relief to a "group" of enterprises, the eligibility criteria are vertical and satisfy the de jure specificity standard laid out in the statute (BGH Edelstahl Siegen v. U.S., CIT # 21-00080).

The Commerce Department stuck by its benchmark picks for the land program and the aluminum plate, sheet and strip program in a suit on the 2016-17 administrative review of the countervailing duty order on aluminum foil from China. Submitting its remand results to the Court of International Trade on Aug. 4, Commerce said Trade Data Monitor data on Harmonized System subheading 7606.12 was properly used as the benchmark for the aluminum plate program, and that a 2010 Coldwell Banker Richard Ellis (CBRE) report on Thailand was the proper land benchmark (Jiangsu Zhongji Lamination Materials Co. v. U.S., CIT # 21-00133).

The Commerce Department legally selected Malaysian import data to value backsheet and ethyl vinyl acetate (EVA) in an antidumping duty review on solar cells from China because that data best corresponds to the inputs used by exporter Risen Energy Co., the U.S. argued in an Aug. 3 reply brief at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (Risen Energy Co. v. United States, Fed. Cir. # 23-11550).

A three-judge committee at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit found that Judge Pauline Newman committed a "serious form of misconduct" by thwarting the investigation into her fitness to continue serving at the court. Releasing its findings publicly Aug. 4, the committee recommended the court's Judicial Council bar Newman from sitting on any new cases for a one-year period "until she complies with the Committee's outstanding orders such that the inquiry into whether she suffers from a disability may be completed."

The Commerce Department did not satisfy its statutory obligations to tell antidumping duty respondents their submissions were deficient ahead of granting constructed export price adjustments, the Court of International Trade ruled in an Aug. 3 opinion. Remanding the 2019-20 review of the AD order on circular welded non-alloy steel pipe from South Korea, Judge Timothy Reif said the agency should provide the mandatory respondents with notice of their deficiencies and give them a chance to explain them.

The Court of International Trade improperly dismissed for lack of jurisdiction a $5.7 million customs penalty suit against importer Katana Racing, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit said in an Aug. 3 opinion. While the trade court said Katana properly revoked a statute of limitations waiver making the U.S. government's suit untimely, Judges Sharon Prost, Alvin Schall and Todd Hughes said the statute of limitations "is not a jurisdictional time limit." Instead, it provides an "affirmative defense" that can be waived.

The Court of International Trade should sustain the Commerce Department’s duty drawback calculation in its final remand redetermination for an antidumping duty investigation on common alloy aluminum sheet from Turkey, AD respondent Assan Aluminyum Sanayi ve Ticaret (Assan) said in its July 31 response comments (Assan Aluminyum Sanayi ve Ticaret v. U.S., CIT # 21-00246).