The Court of International Trade should reconsider its opinion on the origin of Cyber Power Systems (USA)'s uninterruptible power supplies because the court shirked its responsibility to arrive at the correct determination, the importer said in a reply brief. Even though the trade court ruled against Cyber Power's position that its power supplies are made in the Philippines, it did not take the next step to determine the goods' actual origin, making "no findings of fact regarding manufacture in China," Cyber Power said (Cyber Power Systems (USA) v. United States, CIT # 20-00124).

Arguments from the U.S. and countervailing duty petitioner Coalition for Fair Trade in Ripe Olives related to the Commerce Department's "substantially dependent" finding in the Spanish olives CVD investigation are "part predictable and part remarkable," two Spanish olive growers and a Spanish olive trade group told the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in a reply brief (Asociacion de Exportadores e Industriales de Aceitunas de Mesa v. United States, Fed Cir. # 23-1162).

U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit Judge Pauline Newman filed suit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia in a bid to stop CAFC Judge Kimberly Moore's investigation of Newman's fitness to continue serving on the court. Retaining the New Civil Liberties Alliance as counsel, Newman argued that the fitness proceedings constitute a violation of the separation of powers as spelled out in the U.S. Constitution (The Hon. Pauline Newman v. The Hon. Kimberly A. Moore, D.D.C. # 23-01334).

The Court of International Trade erred in failing to grant importer Meyer Corp. first sale treatment when valuing its cookware imports, the importer told the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in its opening brief. In one of "two major assignments of error," Meyer said CIT impermissibly rejected first sale prices based on the absence of financial information from Meyer's parent company, Meyer International Holdings (Meyer Corp. v. United States, Fed. Cir. #23-1570).

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A Court of International Trade decision on the classification of net wraps used for bailing hay was "fatally inconsistent" with the Federal Circuit's controlling precedent on the tariff definition of a part, RKW Klerks argued in a May 7 brief at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (RKW Klerks v. United States, Fed. Cir. # 23-1210).

The Commerce Department reasonably found that it doesn't need to incorporate offsets for the costs of complying with Germany's Electricity and Energy Tax Acts in countervailing duty rate calculations for respondent BGH Edelstahl Siegen, the Court of International Trade said. Ruling on Commerce's remand results in a case on the CVD investigation into forged steel fluid end blocks from Germany, Judge Claire Kelly also remanded the agency's finding of de jure specificity for Germany's KAV program. The judge said Commerce failed to explain how the criteria for the program are economic in nature and horizontal in application.

The Court of International Trade on April 27 upheld the Commerce Department's remand results in a case involving the 2018 administrative review of the countervailing duty order on utility scale wind towers from Vietnam. The Wind Tower Trade Coalition failed to convince the court that CS Wind Vietnam manipulated its rate in the review by redesigning its operations or that Commerce failed to correctly investigate the source of steel plate used in the towers.

The Commerce Department will not consider arguments for a particular market situation that are devoid of quantifiable data, the agency said as part of a proposed update to its antidumping duty regulations. While Commerce acknowledged that it legally can consider non-quantifiable data per the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit's decision in NEXTEEL v. U.S. (see 2304200048), the agency said it finds such arguments "typically unhelpful" to its analysis, proposing to not be required to consider them in determining whether a PMS exists. Commerce added that it will not be required to consider "speculative costs or prices" as well.

GreenFirst Forest is not the successor to Rayonier A.M. Canada (RYAM) for the purposes of countervailing duty calculation because RYAM still exists, DOJ said in its May 3 response brief at the Court of International Trade. DOJ asked the court to sustain Commerce’s remand redetermination on softwood lumber products from Canada (GreenFirst Forest Products v. U.S., CIT # 22-00097).