Commerce Rightly Accepted Correction and Recalculated AD Rates in Steel Pipe Case, DOJ Argues

The Commerce Department correctly reconsidered ministerial error comments in recalculating antidumping duty rates in its remand results on the 2018-19 administrative review on heavy walled rectangular welded steel pipes and tubes from Mexico, DOJ said in its May 25 response to remand comments at the Court of International Trade (Nucor Tubular Products v. U.S., CIT # 21-00543).

Commerce correctly accepted Nucor's correction that addressed an "unintentional" programmed error, DOJ said. Commerce did not intend to include pre-period of review window sales in its full period of review averaging calculation but had mistakenly done so in its final margin calculation, DOJ said. Commerce addressed the "unintentional computer programming error," consistent with the remand order, DOJ said.

CIT sent back Commerce's final results over the department's decision to reject AD petitioner Nucor Tubular's ministerial error comments as untimely (see 2301180039). On remand, the department accepted the ministerial errors it originally rejected as untimely, which will raise the dumping rates for the two respondents should the remand results be sustained (see 2303170054).

Respondent Maquilacero has said that Commerce "applied a relaxed standard" when accepting Nucor's correction and was not required to recalculate the rates, only to "provide adequate consideration to Nucor’s allegation" (see 2305050028).