The Court of International Trade on March 16 upheld the use of a questionnaire instead of on-site verification in the Commerce Department's countervailing duty investigation on aluminum sheet from Turkey. Judge M. Miller Baker said that Commerce "easily" defeated respondent Teknik Aluminyum Sanayi's challenge because Teknik cited no authority requiring the agency to carry out a certain verification procedure during a global pandemic.

CBP correctly classified a supermodule for use in hydrogen fuel-cell powerplants as parts of electric generators rather than as a water gas generator, DOJ argued in a March 15 motion at the Court of International Trade (HyAxium v. United States, CIT # 21-00057).

The Commerce Department can legally deduct President Donald Trump's Section 232 duties from an exporter's U.S. price in antidumping duty proceedings, raising the respondent's dumping margin, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit ruled March 15. Judges Richard Taranto, Kara Stoll and Tiffany Cunningham said Trump's proclamation imposing the duties made clear that the Section 232 tariffs were meant to be added to any applicable antidumping duties. However, the appellate court clarified that this ruling only applies to Trump's Section 232 duties and not all presidential action taken under Section 232.

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The Commerce Department dropped its particular market situation adjustment for the sales-below-cost test on remand at the Court of International Trade in an antidumping duty case on forged steel fluid end blocks from Germany, resulting in a zero percent AD rate for respondent BGH Edelstahl Siegen, if the rate is sustained (Ellwood City Forge Co., et al. v. United States, CIT # 21-00077).

CBP properly classified Shamrock Building Materials' steel conduit tubing imports from Mexico as steel tubing and not insulated fittings, the Court of International Trade ruled March 13. Judge Timothy Stanceu said the "uncontested facts" show the tubing is not insulated and is therefore subject to 25% Section 232 steel tariffs.

The Court of International Trade ordered DOJ to produce documents in response to two discovery requests by Zhe "John" Liu, a defendant in a penalty case (U.S. v. Zhe "John" Liu, CIT # 22-00215).

The Court of International Trade doesn’t have jurisdiction to hear a case involving a textile company’s dispute with CBP, saying the company sought relief under the wrong statute, Judge Timothy Stanceu held in a March 10 opinion. The trade court found Printing Textiles, doing business as Berger Textiles, didn’t show why the denied protest challenge should be filed under Section 1581(i), the court's "residual" jurisdiction, and not Section 1581(a). Berger filed a notice of appeal the next business day.

The Commerce Department properly found that a type of aluminum sheet imported from Turkey by AA Metals was covered by the antidumping and countervailing duty orders on common alloy aluminum sheet from China, the Court of International Trade ruled in a March 10 opinion.

Federal judges last week questioned the Commerce Department's policies on the initiation of antidumping duty reviews for exporters with no entries of subject merchandise, asking why Commerce could continue an AD review if there were no entries on the record (Canadian Solar International v. United States, Fed. Cir. # 20-2162).