Trade Court Upholds Commerce's Drop of Section 232 Duties From AD Respondent's US Price

The Court of International Trade in an April 28 opinion upheld the Commerce Department's move to drop Section 232 duties from antidumping duty review respondent Power Steel's U.S. price for two entries of steel concrete rebar. The result is a de minimis dumping rate for Power Steel. In the one-page order, Judge Jane Restani said that as no party intends to submit further filings, the remand is sustained.

The case concerns Commerce's final results in the 2017-2018 administrative review of the AD order on steel concrete rebar from Taiwan. Power Steel contested Commerce's deduction of Section 232 duties from the U.S. export price and the agency's finding that Power Steel paid Section 232 duties on all of its U.S. sales. In a December 2021 opinion, the trade court upheld Commerce's ability to deduct Section 232 duties from the export price but sided with the exporter on its second contention.

In the review, Commerce deducted Section 232 duties from the export price of all of Power Steel's entries. To counter this presumption, the respondent submitted evidence in an attempt to show that these duties weren't paid on every entry and were instead paid by the U.S. customers. Such evidence included a revised sales agreement, email correspondence and accounting records. The court, though, found that Power Steel didn't argue before Commerce specifically that the sales invoices showed that it didn't pay the Section 232 duties. Nevertheless, the court remanded the issue for Commerce to consider whether the sales invoices and other evidence shows that the exporter didn't pay the Section 232 duties (see 2112230063).

On remand, Commerce found that Power Steel didn't pay the Section 232 duties on two entries, dropping them from the U.S. price for the transactions (see 2204080055). The result was a de minimis dumping margin for the exporter. The court upheld this position, noting the litigants, including the AD petitioner Rebar Trade Action Coalition, didn't plan any more filings.

(Power Steel v. U.S., Slip Op. 22-39, CIT #20-03771, dated 04/28/22, Judge Jane Restani. Attorneys: Adams Chi-Peng Lee of Harris Bricken for plaintiff Power Steel; Ann Motto for defendant U.S. government; Alan Price of Wiley for defendant-intervenor Rebar Trade Action Coalition)