A Chinese brick exporter alleged Dec. 4 at the Court of International Trade that the Commerce Department is illegally expanding the scope of its antidumping and countervailing duty orders on Chinese-imported magnesia carbon bricks (Fedmet Resources v. U.S., CIT # 23-00117).

The Commerce Department's finding that calcium glycinate is outside the scope of the antidumping and countervailing duty orders on glycine from India, Japan, Thailand and China was not backed by substantial evidence, AD/CVD petitioner GEO Specialty Chemicals argued in a Dec. 7 complaint at the Court of International Trade (GEO Specialty Chemicals v. United States, CIT # 23-00238).

The Court of International Trade in a Dec. 6 order postponed a hearing on Chinese exporter Ninestar Corp.'s motion for a preliminary injunction in the company's suit against its placement on the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act Entity List. The parties asked for a delay in the hearing while they negotiate a process for the Forced Labor Enforcement Task Force to consider a request for removal from the UFLPA Entity List by Ninestar (see 2312050023) (Ninestar Corp. v. United States, CIT # 23-00182).

The following lawsuits were recently filed at the Court of International Trade:

Liquified natural gas export project Magnolia LNG withdrew from a lawsuit filed by the Sierra Club challenging the Department of Energy's Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management approval of Magnolia LNG's and Golden Pass LNG Terminal's applications to increase their authorized LNG export volumes. Submitting its motion on Dec. 1 to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, Magnolia said it wanted to withdraw as a respondent-intervenor "because it has determined to move forward with a new application to Energy for authorization to export LNG to non-free trade nations" (Sierra Club v. U.S. Department of Energy, D.C. Cir. # 22-1217).

The following lawsuit was recently filed at the Court of International Trade:

CBP's failure to seek clarification from the Commerce Department on whether importer Vanguard Trading Co.'s surface products were subject to the antidumping duty order on quartz surface products from China as part of an AD evasion case was "arbitrary and capricious," Vanguard told the Court of International Trade in a Dec. 4 complaint (Vanguard Trading Co. v. United States, CIT # 23-00253).

Canadian softwood lumber exporters argued Monday that they should be able to intervene in a growing case regarding the Commerce Department’s 2021 administrative review of the antidumping duties on their products (Government of Canada v. U.S., CIT # 23-00187).

A U.S. importer of 3D-printing pens argued in the Court of International Trade that its pens should be reclassified as toys, or otherwise as either mechanical heating devices or motorized hand tools. Such an action would reduce or eliminate the antidumping duty for its products (Quantified Operations Limited v. U.S., CIT # 22-00178).

The Court of International Trade in a Dec. 1 order stayed a customs fraud case against Zhe "John" Liu pending resolution of the ongoing criminal investigation of Liu. The civil case against Liu and importer GL Paper Distribution was filed at the trade court in July 2022, in which the U.S. alleged that Liu operated a scheme via a series of companies that imported steel wire hangers that were given false countries of origin. Liu allegedly created the companies for a transshipment scheme that involved sending wire hangers from China subject to antidumping and countervailing duties through Malaysia, India and Thailand in a bid to disguise their origin (see 2303160050). Judge Jane Restani stayed the government's case against Liu and GL Paper, ordering the parties to file a joint status report April 1 (U.S. v. Zhe "John" Liu, CIT # 22-00215).