Section 232 Refunds Are Grounds to Not Deduct Duties From US Price in AD Case, Importer Argues

Section 232 steel tariffs paid by importer North American Interpipe should be deducted from its U.S. price in an antidumping proceeding, the importer, along with its Ukrainian manufacturer, argued in an April 6 complaint at the Court of International Trade. Taking a novel approach to this position -- which has been routinely defeated at CIT -- Interpipe said the national security tariffs should be deducted due to their tentative nature given that a number of exclusion requests were retroactively granted in a separate CIT case challenging the exclusion denials (Interpipe Ukraine v. U.S., CIT #22-00066).

Interpipe, along with Interpipe Ukraine, launched the case to challenge the first administrative review of the antidumping duty order on oil country tubular goods from Ukraine. In the review, Interpipe requested the Commerce Department not deduct the amount of its Section 232 duties paid from its U.S. price. The agency refused.

In a separate case, Interpipe challenged Commerce's denial of its Section 232 exclusion requests. Following court mediation in that case, Interpipe received a refund for the duties paid (see 2203090027). Interpipe is using this as grounds to argue that Commerce shouldn't deduct the 232 duties paid from the U.S. price. "Interpipe demonstrated that Section 232 duties are temporary and tentative (and thus distinct from 'United States import duties'), both in general and as specifically applied to Interpipe, because of its appeal of Commerce’s denial of its Section 232 exclusion requests," the complaint said.

Interpipe also challenged Commerce's decision not to grant a constructed export price offset to Interpipe for its oil country tubular goods sales through its U.S. importer. In the review, Commerce said Interpipe didn't give enough supporting evidence to back its claimed levels of selling activities or provide an appropriate quantitative analysis.