Although some observers thought the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative's reaction to losing cases filed by Norway, Switzerland, Turkey and China at the World Trade Organization over its steel and aluminum tariffs marked a new era of rejecting the rules-based trading system, others who had served either in the WTO or the U.S. government said there was nothing too surprising about the U.S. reaction to its loss.

Trade Law Daily is providing readers with the top stories from last week in case you missed them. All articles can be found by searching on the title or by clicking on the hyperlinked reference number.

The Court of International Trade should dismiss a Section 592 penalty case against defendant Zhe "John" Liu since the statute of limitations has run out and the "action is untimely," Liu said in a Dec. 13 motion. The fraud case brought by the U.S. was not brought within five years from the date of the alleged violation because the defendant was not involved in the transaction at issue, as he was neither an owner, officer or director of GL Paper Distribution -- the company that committed the alleged fraud and a co-defendant in the action, the brief said. Liu also argued that the U.S. failed to state a claim against the defendant. As a result, Liu should be severed and dismissed from the case, the brief said (United States v. Zhe "John" Liu, CIT #22-00215).

The Court of International Trade in a Dec.12 opinion dismissed a suit from importer MS Solar Investments challenging the Commerce Department's liquidation instructions following an antidumping duty review for lack of subject matter jurisdiction. Judge Jennifer Choe-Groves said the case is based on an error affecting the final results of the review and not a mistake in the liquidation instructions. This means the case falls under Section 1581(c) and not Section 1581(i) -- the court's "residual" jurisidiction -- as claimed by the plaintiff.

The Commerce Department properly found countervailing duty respondent Yama Ribbons and Bows received synthetic yarn and caustic soda -- inputs of narrow woven ribbons with woven selvedge -- for less than adequate remuneration, the Court of International Trade held in a Dec. 8 opinion. Judge Timothy Stanceu found Commerce permissibly levied adverse facts available for the Chinese government's failure to respond to requests over the provision of the two inputs, and said the agency properly dropped its subsidy rate for China's Export Buyer's Credit Program.

The World Trade Organization issued a series of four rulings Dec. 9 finding that the U.S. Section 232 steel and aluminum tariffs set by President Donald Trump violated global trade rules. In the landmark rulings, a three-person panel found that the duties violated Articles I, II, XI and XXI of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade. The dispute panel said the tariffs, which the Trump administration said were needed to maintain U.S. national security, were not "taken in time of war or other emergency in international relations," as mandated by Article XXI(b)(iii) of national security protections, so the duties violate the GATT.

The Commerce Department must reconsider its reliance on a financial statement in an antidumping review to calculate surrogate financial ratios, the Court of International Trade ruled in a confidential Nov. 28 opinion made public Dec. 7. Judge Timothy Reif directed Commerce to reconsider or further explain the agency's conclusions that the statements were complete and publicly available. However, the judge did uphold Commerce's surrogate value for pocket coil innerspring units.

CBP unlawfully imposed 20% additional duties on bifacial solar panels given that the Court of International Trade found the underlying presidential proclamation to be "null and void," argued Trina Solar in a Dec. 7 complaint at the Court of International Trade (Trina Solar (U.S.), Inc. v. U.S., CIT # 22-00321).

The EU requested two World Trade Organization dispute settlement panels over trade disputes with China, the European Commission announced. One dispute concerns Chinese trade restrictions on Lithuanian exports and EU exports with Lithuanian content. The other deals with the legality of Beijing restricting EU high-tech patent holders from accessing EU courts. The WTO action comes after bilateral talks over the issues fell through, EU Trade Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis said.

The Commerce Department properly dropped its reliance on an Enforce and Protect Act case to reject third-country sales in an antidumping duty review, the Court of International Trade ruled in a Dec. 6 opinion. Judge Gary Katzmann upheld Commerce's remand results, which used respondent Z.A. Sea Food's (ZASF's) Vietnamese sales to calculate normal value in an AD review on Indian products. The domestic shrimp industry had argued Commerce should use constructed value because there is no evidence the shrimp sold in Vietnam was consumed by the Vietnamese customers. Katzmann waived the domestic industry's claims "due to the lack of adequate argument."