CIT Mediation Settles Pair of Section 232 Exclusion Denial Cases

The Court of International Trade reported that it settled all issues via mediation in two cases over the Commerce Department's denial of Section 232 exclusion requests. The mediation, held by Judge Leo Gordon, was ordered after the consolidated plaintiffs' request for a status conference was denied as moot. The plaintiffs wanted the status conference to discuss the availability of a remedy for already-liquidated entries, but the specifics of mediation were not made known (N. Am. Interpipe, Inc. v. U.S., CIT #20-03825) (Allegheny Technologies Incorporated, et al. v. U.S., CIT #20-03923).

CIT originally consolidated the six challenges to the exclusion denials in August (see 2108190038). In each case, the Commerce Department's Bureau of Industry and Security issued a blanket rejection of the exclusion request and then filed for a voluntary remand to conduct an independent review of each request once judicial relief was sought. However, the mediation extension was granted in only three of these cases -- the ones brought by North American Interpipe, Evraz Inc. and Alleghany Technologies. Judge Gordon reported that mediation reached full conclusions only in the Interpipe and Alleghany cases.