United States Steel Corp. v. United States
953 F. Supp. 2d 1332
Ct. Intl. Trade2013Background
- POSCO and HYSCO produced CORE subject to an antidumping order; Commerce conducted the 17th administrative review for 2009-2010.
- Commerce used twelve model-match criteria and selected POSCO’s U.S. date of sale as shipment date (not invoice date) for POSCO’s CEP-based pricing.
- POSCO’s U.S. sales process involves POSCO America Corporation negotiating with U.S. customers, with shipments from Korea after order entry; documentation showed shipment establishing material terms.
- HYSCO’s non-tempered rolled (NTR) home-market sales were found to be within the ordinary course of trade, despite lack of a formal paper trail for every transaction, based on totality of circumstances.
- POSCO’s de minimis margins for three consecutive years supported revocation of the antidumping order with respect to POSCO under 19 U.S.C. § 1675(d) and 19 C.F.R. § 351.222(e).
- Plaintiffs challenged: (a) POSCO’s shipment-date as date of sale; (b) inclusion of HYSCO’s NTR sales in normal-value calculations; (c) the revocation decision for POSCO; the court upheld all challenged Commerce determinations.
Issues
| Issue | Plaintiff's Argument | Defendant's Argument | Held |
|---|---|---|---|
| Date of sale for POSCO | POSCO date of sale should be invoice date; shipment date is inappropriate. | Shipment date better reflects when material sale terms were fixed; Commerce justified by record and industry practice. | Date of sale based on shipment date sustained. |
| Ordinary course of trade for HYSCO NTR sales | NTR sales are extraordinary due to lack of paper trail and differing from TR sales; should be outside ordinary course. | Totality of circumstances shows NTR sales are not extraordinary and reflect normal market behavior. | NTR sales found within ordinary course of trade. |
| Revocation of POSCO antidumping order | Revocation baseless given evidence of potential future dumping and market factors; verification issues. | POSCO met statutory certification requirements and three consecutive years of de minimis margins; revocation appropriate. | REVOCATION sustained; order revoked as to POSCO. |
Key Cases Cited
- Universal Camera Corp. v. NLRB, 340 U.S. 474 (Supreme Ct. 1951) (substantial evidence standard requires considering record as a whole)
- Allied Tube and Conduit Corp. v. United States, 24 CIT 1357 (2000) (regulatory interpretation and discretion in date-of-sale determinations)
- NTN Bearing Corp. of Am. v. United States, 19 CIT 1221 (1995) (burden to show extraordinary circumstances for outside ordinary course)
- Murata Machinery USA, Inc. v. United States, 17 CIT 263 (1999) (totality-of-circumstances approach to ordinary course of trade)
- U.S. Steel Group v. United States, 25 CIT 1293 (2001) (precedent on ordinary course of trade and evidentiary standards)