US to Appeal CIT Case Probing Commerce's Nonmarket Economy Policy in AD Cases

The U.S. will appeal a June Court of International Trade opinion upholding the Commerce Department's remand results in a suit on the administrative review of the antidumping duty order on multilayered wood flooring from China. The remand results dropped the presumption the Chinese government controlled exporter Jilin Forest Industry Jinqiao Flooring Group Co. after the trade court questioned whether Commerce could disregard a mandatory respondent's own data in favor of the countrywide nonmarket economy rate (see 2305040061).

Counsel for Jilin Forest previously indicated an appeal was unlikely because it would open up scrutiny of Commerce's NME policy. The case will be litigated at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (Jilin Forest Industry Jinqiao Flooring Group Co. v. U.S., CIT # 18-00191).