Trade Court Upholds Commerce Remand in Wind Tower CVD Review

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.

Judge Timothy Reif ruled that Commerce addressed the petitioner coalition's evidence of potential manipulation and responded to each of the three remand instructions reasonably. CIT agreed with Commerce that CS Wind Vietnam and its parent company did not “‘suddenly’ adopt the tolling arrangements to avoid payment of countervailing duties, as claimed by the coalition. Instead, the court agreed with Commerce's explanation that the tolling agreements were a "continuation of a preexisting business arrangement."

Commerce also reasonably rejected the Wind Tower Trade Coalition's assertion that an affiliate serving as the importer of record did not show a manipulation of the sales value. Commerce's assessment that CS Wind Vietnam's restructuring was a "legitimate commercial consideration" and disagreements with Commerce's methodology are not a reason for remand, CIT said.

Reif also found that Commerce successfully addressed concerns about the source of steel plate, and said that the court would "not disturb" Commerce's reasonable conclusion. On remand, Commerce maintained its conclusion that CS Wind Vietnam did not import the steel plate in question but further examined CS Wind Vietnam’s questionnaire response about the source of its raw materials. Commerce found that CS Wind Vietnam did not import steel plate and therefore did not receive benefits under the Import Duty Exemption program.

Commerce addressed the Wind Tower Trade Coalition's hypothetical, adding that "if [company name redacted] had imported the steel plate, "neither CS Wind Korea nor CS Wind Vietnam would be the importer and would not be liable for import duties, if such duties were applicable, and would not be the beneficiary of any exemptions of those duties.”

(Wind Tower Trade Coalition v. United States, Slip Op. 23-63, CIT # 20-03692; Judge: Timothy Reif; Attorneys: Derick G. Holt of Wiley Reinfor plaintiff Wind Tower Trade Coalition; Ashley Akers for defendant U.S. government)