International Trade Remedies

On Sept. 20, the U.S. Department of Commerce published a new set of anti-dumping and countervailing duty regulations governing a multitude of administrative proceedings including:

• Changes to new shipper reviews;
• Scope ruling requests;
• Anti-circumvention inquiries;
• Covered merchandise referrals from U.S. Customs and Border Protection under the Enforce and Protect Act; and

On October 6, 2021, Borusan Mannesmann Pipe U.S., Inc. (“Borusan U.S.”), PTC Liberty Tubulars LLC (“PTC”), U. S. Steel Tubular Products, Inc. (“U. S. Steel”), the United Steel, Paper and Forestry, Rubber, Manufacturing, Energy, Allied Industrial and Service Workers International Union, AFL-CIO, CLC (the “USW”), and Welded Tube USA, Inc. (“Welded Tube”) ( “Petitioners”), filed a petition for the imposition of antidumping duties on imports of oil country tubular goods from Argentina, Mexico, and Russia. In addition, the petition alleges that imports of oil country tubular goods from the Republic of Korea and Russia are unfairly subsidized and requests the imposition of countervailing duties.

On October 4, 2021, Ambassador Katherine Tai, the United States Trade Representative, addressed the state of U.S.- China trade relations and the upcoming plans for the Biden Administration to improve foreign trade policy. Since taking office in January, the Administration has spent time reviewing the trade policies put in place under the Trump Administration.  There has been little movement until now as to the stance the Biden Administration would take, which created uncertainty regarding U.S. trade policy with China. Speculation grew as many questioned what would happen with the tariffs imposed on Chinese imports (under Section 301), how the administration would address the shortcomings of the “Phase 1” deal, and whether the product exclusion process would be re-instated.

On October 1, 2021, the Department of Commerce (“Commerce”) announced in the Federal Register the opportunity to request an annual administrative review for products that are currently subject to antidumping and countervailing duties. The products and countries that have been listed in the Federal Register notice are the following:

AD

  • Australia: Certain Hot-Rolled Steel Flat

On September 29, 2021, the Coalition of Freight Coupler Producers (“Petitioners”), filed a petition for the imposition of antidumping and countervailing duties on imports of certain freight rail coupler systems and components thereof from the People’s Republic of China.

On September 13, the Biden Administration announced ten nominations to various agencies, including Maria “Marisa” Lago for Under Secretary of Commerce for International Trade at the Department of Commerce (“Commerce”) and Elaine Trevino for Chief Agricultural Negotiator at the U.S. Trade Representative (“USTR”).

On September 8, 2021, after a longstanding dispute, the US Court of International Trade issued an order resolving the steps that Plaintiffs will need to take in order to preserve their rights to receive refunds, in conformance with the injunction that was issued by the court on July 6, 2021.   The Government recently conceded that, as a practical matter, it does not have the resources to suspend liquidation on an ongoing basis to comply with the Court’s PI order. As a result, in lieu of suspension, the Government stipulated that it will rely on post-judgment reliquidation or refunds to provide the remedy in the event Plaintiffs’ claims are successful – the very solution that Plaintiffs had been advocating for since the entry of the PI order. As a result, the Court issued the attached Order lifting the PI and TRO and removing the requirement for a CBP repository.   Customs will continue liquidating entries in the ordinary course as they have done.

On September 7, 2021, the U.S. Department of Commerce published a notice initiating new administrative reviews for antidumping duty (AD) and countervailing duty (CVD) orders with July anniversary dates. Listed below are the countries and products named in the notice:

  1. Belgium
    • Citric Acid and Certain Citrate Salts (A–423–813)
  2. Columbia
    • Citric Acid and Certain Citrate Salts

On August 3, 2021, the U.S. Department of Commerce published a notice initiating new administrative reviews for antidumping duty (AD) and countervailing duty (CVD) orders with June anniversary dates. Listed below are the countries and products named in the notice:

  1. Germany
    • Certain Cold-Drawn Mechanical Tubing of Carbon and Alloy Steel (A–428–845)
  2. India
    • Certain Cold-Drawn Mechanical