Blue Pipe Steel Ctr. Co. v. United States

2025 CIT 126

• Court: United States Court of International Trade
• Decided: September 25, 2025
• Docket: 21-00081
• Status: Published

Opinion

Slip Op. 25-126

UNITED STATES COURT OF INTERNATIONAL TRADE

BLUE PIPE STEEL CENTER CO., LTD.,

Plaintiff,

v.

UNITED STATES, Before: Timothy M. Reif, Judge Defendant, Court No. 21-00081 and

WHEATLAND TUBE COMPANY AND NUCOR TUBULAR PRODUCTS INC.

Defendant-Intervenors.

OPINION

[Denying plaintiff’s motion for judgment on the agency record and sustaining the finding of evasion of U.S. Customs and Border Protection.]

Dated: September 25, 2025

Adams C. Lee, Harris Bricken McVay Sliwoski, LLP, of Seattle, WA, for plaintiff Blue Pipe Steel Center Co., Ltd.

Robert R. Kiepura, Trial Attorney, Commercial Litigation Branch, Civil Division, U.S. Department of Justice, of Washington, D.C., for defendant United States. With him on the briefs were Yaakov M. Roth, Acting Assistant Attorney General, Patricia M. McCarthy, Director and Franklin E. White, Jr., Assistant Director. Of counsel was Tamari J. Lagvilava, Senior Attorney, Enforcement & Operations, Office of Chief Counsel, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, of Washington, D.C.

Roger B. Schagrin, Luke A. Meisner and Christopher T. Cloutier, Schagrin Associates, of Washington, D.C., for defendant-intervenor Wheatland Tube Company. Alan H. Price, Robert E. DeFrancesco III, Elizabeth S. Lee and Theodore P. Brackemyre, Wiley Rein LLP, of Washington, D.C., for defendant-intervenor Nucor Tubular Products, Inc.

* * * Court No. 21-00081 Page 2

Reif, Judge: Before the court is the motion for judgment on the agency record of

Blue Pipe Steel Center Co., Ltd. (“plaintiff” or “Blue Pipe”). Corrected Mem. of P. & A. in

Supp. of Pl.’s Rule 56.2 Mot. for J. on the Agency R. (“Pl. MJAR Br.”), ECF No. 55.

Plaintiff challenges the determination of U.S. Customs and Border Protection

(“Customs”) that plaintiff was evading the antidumping (“AD”) order on circular welded

carbon steel pipes and tubes from Thailand. Id.; Compl. ¶ 1, ECF No. 2; see also

Notice of Final Determination as to Evasion (“Evasion Determination”), EAPA Case No.

7401 (Sep. 11, 2020), APPX17106-APPX17114, ECF No. 79.

For the reasons discussed below, the court denies plaintiff’s motion for judgment

on the agency record and sustains the evasion determination of Customs.

BACKGROUND

On March 11, 1986, the U.S. Department of Commerce (“Commerce”) issued the

AD order on certain circular welded carbon steel pipes and tubes from Thailand.

Antidumping Duty Order; Circular Welded Carbon Steel Pipes and Tubes from Thailand

(“Order”), 51 Fed. Reg. 8,341 (Dep’t of Commerce Mar. 11, 1986).

On October 4, 2019, domestic producers of circular welded carbon steel pipes

and tubes filed an evasion allegation with Customs pursuant to the Enforce and Protect

Act (“EAPA”), section 517 of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended, 19 U.S.C. § 1517, 1

enacted as Title IV, section 421 of the Trade Facilitation and Trade Enforcement Act of

2015. See Request for an Investigation under the Enforce and Protect Act of

Independence Tube Corporation, a Nucor Company, Southland Tube, Inc. and

1 Further citations to the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended, are to the relevant portions of

Title 19 of the U.S. Code, 2018 edition. Court No. 21-00081 Page 3

Wheatland Tube Company, EAPA Case No. 7401 (Oct. 4, 2019), APPX8000-

APPX8021; Compl. ¶ 13.

On November 8, 2019, the Trade Remedy Law Enforcement Directorate

(“TRLED”) within the Customs’ Office of Trade initiated an investigation under EAPA as

the result of these allegations as to evasion of AD duties by Blue Pipe. See Notice of

Initiation of Investigation, EAPA Case No. 7401 (Feb. 13, 2020), APPX9871-APPX9876;

Compl. ¶ 16. The initiation notice stated that “[t]he entries covered by the investigation

are those entered for consumption, or withdrawn from warehouse for consumption, from

October 18, 2018, through the pendency of this investigation.” Notice of Initiation of

Investigation at APPX9873 (citing 19 C.F.R. § 165.2).

On June 30, 2020, Commerce issued a final scope ruling in which it determined

that dual-stenciled pipe is within the scope of the Order. See Evasion Determination at

APPX17112; Compl. ¶¶ 20-21.

On September 11, 2020, Customs issued the evasion determination, which

stated that “there is substantial evidence that [Blue Pipe] entered merchandise covered

by [the Order] into the customs territory of the United States through evasion.” Evasion

Determination at APPX17107-APPX17108. In light of the scope ruling of Commerce,

Customs determined that “Blue Pipe evaded the [Order] by not entering dual stenciled

pipe from Thailand as Type 03 entries and posting the appropriate cash deposits.” Id.

at APPX17113.

Pursuant to the affirmative determination of evasion, Customs “suspend[ed] the

liquidation for all entries imported by Blue Pipe that are subject to EAPA investigation Court No. 21-00081 Page 4

7401 for the period of investigation, October 18, 2018, through September 11, 2020.”

Id. at APPX17114.

On October 23, 2020, Blue Pipe requested de novo administrative review of the

evasion determination by Customs’ Office of Regulations and Rulings (“R&R”). Office of

Regulations and Rulings Administrative Review, EAPA Case No. 7401 (Jan. 27, 2021),

at APPX17116-17117. On January 27, 2021, R&R affirmed the evasion determination.

Id. at APPX17131.

On March 8, 2021, plaintiff filed its complaint in the instant action to challenge the

evasion determination. See Compl. On December 14, 2022, plaintiff moved for

judgment on the agency record pursuant to U.S. Court of International Trade Rule 56.2.

Pl.’s Rule 56.2 Mot. for J. on the Agency R., ECF No. 50; Pl. MJAR Br.

JURISDICTION AND STANDARD OF REVIEW

The court has jurisdiction over this action pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1581(c) and 19

U.S.C. § 1517(g)(1).

The Court reviews determinations and administrative reviews in evasion

investigations to examine: (1) whether Customs “fully complied with all procedures

under subsections (c) and (f)”; and (2) whether “any determination, finding, or

conclusion is arbitrary, capricious, an abuse of discretion, or otherwise not in

accordance with law.” 19 U.S.C. § 1517(g)(2)(A)-(B).

An agency action is arbitrary and capricious “if the agency has relied on factors

which Congress has not intended it to consider, entirely failed to consider an important

aspect of the problem, offered an explanation for its decision that runs counter to the

evidence before the agency, or is so implausible that it could not be ascribed to a Court No. 21-00081 Page 5

difference in view or the product of agency expertise.” Motor Vehicle Mfrs. Ass’n of

U.S., Inc. v. State Farm Mut. Auto. Ins. Co., 463 U.S. 29, 43 (1983). “The scope of

review under the ‘arbitrary and capricious’ standard is narrow and a court is not to

substitute its judgment for that of the agency.” Id. Even so, the agency “must examine

the relevant data and articulate a satisfactory explanation for its action[,] including a

‘rational connection between the facts found and the choice made.’” Leco Supply, Inc.

v. United States, 47 CIT __, __, 619 F. Supp. 3d 1287, 1293 (2023) (alteration in

original) (quoting Burlington Truck Lines, Inc. v. United States, 371 U.S. 156, 168

(1962)).

“An abuse of discretion occurs where the decision is based on an erroneous

interpretation of the law, on factual findings that are not supported by substantial

evidence, or represents an unreasonable judgment in weighing relevant factors.” Star

Fruits S.N.C. v. United States, 393 F.3d 1277, 1281 (Fed. Cir. 2005) (citing Arnold

P’ship v. Dudas, 362 F.3d 1338, 1340 (Fed. Cir. 2004)).

DISCUSSION

I. Legal framework

A person determined to have entered covered merchandise into the United

States through evasion, and an interested party that filed an allegation of evasion that

resulted in initiation of an evasion investigation, may seek judicial review in this Court to

assess whether the determination of evasion and subsequent administrative review

process are conducted in accordance with 19 U.S.C. § 1517(c) (determinations) and (f)

(reviews). 19 U.S.C. § 1517(g)(1).

The statute defines “evasion” as: Court No. 21-00081 Page 6

[E]ntering covered merchandise into the customs territory of the United States by means of any document or electronically transmitted data or information, written or oral statement, or act that is material and false, or any omission that is material, and that results in any cash deposit or other security or any amount of applicable antidumping or countervailing duties being reduced or not being applied with respect to the merchandise.

Id. § 1517(a)(5)(A).

“Given the realities in the marketplace and everchanging varieties of

merchandise, questions frequently arise as to whether a particular product is subject to

or falls within the scope of an antidumping duty order.” Saha Thai Steel Pipe Pub. Co.

v. United States, 101 F.4th 1310, 1315 (Fed. Cir. 2024) (citing 19 C.F.R. § 351.225(a)).

“U.S. trade law provides that an interested party may request that Commerce issue a

scope ruling to clarify whether a particular product falls within the scope of the order.”

Id.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (the “Federal Circuit”) has

recognized that “[t]here is no specific statutory provision governing the interpretation of

the scope of antidumping or countervailing [duty] orders.” Shenyang Yuanda Aluminum

Indus. Eng’g Co. v. United States, 776 F.3d 1351, 1354 (Fed. Cir. 2015); Saha Thai,

101 F.4th at 1323. Commerce’s “regulations provide an analytical framework guiding

Commerce’s reasoning and analysis in reaching a scope ruling.” Saha Thai, 101 F.4th

at 1323.

II. Analysis

In its motion for judgment on the agency record, plaintiff challenged several

aspects of the evasion determination. See Pl. MJAR Br. Following the decision of the

Federal Circuit in Saha Thai, however, plaintiff revised its position and now Court No. 21-00081 Page 7

“acknowledges that [Customs’] EAPA duty evasion determination . . . should be affirmed

… [but] note[s] the only remaining issue is the timing of the effective date of [Customs’]

EAPA determination.” Pl.’s Supp. Br. (“Pl. Supp. Br.”) at 1, ECF No. 71. Specifically,

plaintiff contends that the effective date of the evasion determination “should be from

the initiation date of Commerce’s scope inquiry (i.e., November 22, 2019) rather than

October 18, 2018[,] which is the date [Customs] began to suspend liquidation of Blue

Pipe’s entries.” Id. at 1-2.

By contrast, defendant and defendant-intervenors argue that the current effective

date of the evasion determination, October 18, 2018, is correct. See Def.’s Supp. Br.

(“Def. Supp. Br.”), ECF No. 72; Def.-Intervenors’ Supp. Br., ECF No. 73.

The court concludes that the current effective date of the evasion determination,

October 18, 2018, is proper.

Plaintiff argues that Customs’ “duty evasion determination relied entirely on

[Commerce’s] scope ruling and was not based in any way on any findings from its own

EAPA investigation of Blue Pipe” and that “it would be unfair to allow [Customs] to apply

an earlier effective date for its EAPA ‘covered merchandise’ determination that is prior

to the initiation date of Commerce’s scope inquiry.” Pl. Supp. Br. at 2. Plaintiff insists

that because Customs relied entirely on Commerce’s scope ruling, Customs in this case

must abide by not just the merits of Commerce’s scope ruling but also the timeline of

Commerce’s scope ruling. Id. at 4.

This Court has recognized that Customs’ authority under EAPA “is independent

of Commerce’s authority under the AD/CVD provisions of U.S. law.” Diamond Tools

Tech. LLC v. United States, 45 CIT __, __, 545 F. Supp. 3d 1324, 1349 (2021). Court No. 21-00081 Page 8

With respect to “covered merchandise” referrals pursuant to 19 U.S.C. §

1517(b)(4), this Court in Diamond Tools stated that:

To require that Customs be bound by Commerce’s later circumvention timeline would restrict Customs’ authority to find that [the importer’s pre- evasion-inquiry] entries were “covered merchandise,” thereby limiting Customs’ enforcement authority under the EAPA with regard to those entries. Such an outcome would be contrary to the congressional intent underlying the EAPA statute and Customs’ ability to exercise its statutory authority.

Id. at __, 545 F. Supp. 3d at 1351. The Court explained that “[t]he purpose of the EAPA

was to empower the U.S. Government and its agencies with the tools to identify

proactively and thwart evasion at earlier stages to improve enforcement of U.S. trade

laws, including by ensuring full collection of AD and CVD duties.” 2 Id.; see also

Vanguard Trading Co. v. United States, Slip Op. 25-61, 2025 WL 1503581, at *11 (CIT

May 19, 2025).

2 In 2015, the Committee on Ways and Means in the U.S. House of Representatives

released a report on the Trade Facilitation and Trade Enforcement Act of 2015. H.R. Rep. No. 114-114, pt. 1 (2015). This report demonstrates that Congress intended for EAPA — referred to as the ENFORCE Act in the House bill — to provide a specific timeline for evasion investigations. Id. Sander M. Levin, Ranking Member of the Committee, included the following statement in the Additional Views section:

There appears to be growing consensus that ENFORCE is the appropriate way to address allegations of evasion. Prior efforts to require Customs to enforce these allegations by using existing statutory provisions (e.g., Section 516 of the Tariff Act of 1930) have failed by not requiring Customs to act on a petition within a fixed period of time. The longer Customs takes, the more entities are liquidated—that is, they become final, and any additional duties owing are foregone.

Id. at 381; see also S. Rep. No. 114-45, at 12 (2015). Court No. 21-00081 Page 9

Plaintiff’s request that Customs’ evasion determination conform to the timeline of

Commerce’s scope ruling would run counter to the language of the statute as

buttressed by its legislative history. See Diamond Tools, 45 CIT at __, 545 F. Supp. 3d

at 1350-51. There is nothing in § 1517 that prescribes the extent to which Customs

may rely on a scope ruling of Commerce in reaching an evasion determination. See 19

U.S.C. § 1517. And in turn, there is nothing in the statute that pegs the effective date of

an evasion determination to the date of a scope ruling of Commerce that Customs may

have relied upon in reaching that determination. See id.; see also Diamond Tools, 45

CIT at __, 545 F. Supp. 3d at 1349 (“[T]he interaction between Customs’ EAPA

investigations and Commerce’s scope inquiries . . . is a novel one for which the statute

provides no clear guidance.”). Given this silence, the court concludes that Customs’

decision to set the effective date at the beginning of the period of investigation for the

evasion inquiry accords with the “best reading” of § 1517 as well as with congressional

intent. See Diamond Tools, 45 CIT at __, 545 F. Supp. 3d at 1351; Loper Bright Enters.

v. Raimondo, 603 U.S. 369, 400 (2024).

In the instant case, plaintiff argues that “[a]ny importer of Blue Pipe dual stenciled

pipe would not have had any reasonable notice that dual stenciled pipe was in scope

merchandise prior to the initiation of Commerce’s scope inquiry.” Pl. Supp. Br. at 2.

Plaintiff notes that “[t]he circumstances of this case are particularly unique in that [the

Order] was originally issued in 1986, more than thirty years before Commerce’s

initiation of the scope inquiry on dual-stenciled pipe.” Id. Court No. 21-00081 Page 10

The scope language in the final determination of the investigation preceding the

Order is as follows: 3

The products under investigation are: certain circular welded carbon steel pipes and tubes, also known as “standard pipe” or “structural tubing,” which includes pipe and tube with an outside diameter of 0.375 inch or more but not over 16 inches, or any wall thickness, as currently provided in items 610.3231, 610.3234, 610.3241, 610.3242, 610.3243, 610.3252, 610.3254, 610.3256, 610.3258 and 610.4925 of the Tariff Schedules of the United States Annotated.

Antidumping: Circular Welded Carbon Steel Pipes and Tubes from Thailand; Final

Determination of Sales at Less Than Fair Value (“Final Determination”), 51 Fed. Reg.

3,384 (Dep’t of Commerce Jan. 27, 1986).

In addition to positive scope language of this kind, the terms of an AD order may

“expressly describe merchandise that, for whatever reason, is excluded from the

scope.” Saha Thai, 101 F.4th at 1324 (emphasis supplied). “Hence, the parties may

argue that a particular product is not within the scope on the ground that it falls within an

explicit exclusion expressed in the order.” Id.; see also Shenyang Yuanda, 776 F.3d at

1358; Meridian Prods., LLC v. United States, 851 F.3d 1375, 1379 (Fed. Cir. 2017)

In affirming the scope ruling that arose from the scope proceeding that ran

parallel to the instant evasion determination, the Saha Thai court noted that the Order

“does not contain any exclusionary language.” Saha Thai, 101 F.4th at 1328. For that

reason, any purported exclusion of dual-stenciled pipe is not justifiable by way of a plain

reading of the Order or the Final Determination.

3 The Order itself does not provide scope language but cites instead to Commerce’s

final determination of sales at less than fair value in the same investigation. See Order, 51 Fed. Reg. 8,341. Court No. 21-00081 Page 11

Plaintiff asks the court to rely on the “multiple” sunset reviews of the U.S.

International Trade Commission (“Commission”) “in which dual-stenciled pipe was

specifically acknowledge[d] as being not within the scope of the antidumping orders on

standard pipes.”4 Pl. Supp. Br. at 2; Saha Thai, 101 F.4th 1319-22. But the Saha Thai

court explicitly rejected “Saha’s attempt to read references to exclusions in other

[circular welded carbon steel pipes and tubes (“CWP”)] orders,” including the

Commission sunset reviews, as “equally applying to the [Order].” Saha Thai, 101 F.4th

at 1330. The court reasoned that “the sunset reviews summarize the [Commission’s]

assessment of various CWP orders resulting from separate investigations” that resulted

in separate orders with “different scope terms.” Id. The court noted that “[f]or instance,

the 1992 CWP orders concerning imports from Brazil, Korea, Mexico, and Venezuela

state that ‘Standard pipe that is dual or triple certified/stenciled that enters the U.S. as

line pipe of a kind used for oil or gas pipelines is [ ] not included in these orders.’” Id.

(second, third and fourth alterations in original) (citation omitted). Such language is

missing from the Order, which applies only to merchandise from Thailand. See Order,

51 Fed. Reg. 8,341; Final Determination, 51 Fed. Reg. 3,384.

4 See Certain Pipe and Tube from Argentina, Brazil, Canada, India, Korea, Mexico,

Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, and Venezuela, USITC Pub. 3316, Inv. Nos. 701- TA-253, 731-TA-132, -252, -271, -273, -276, -277, -296, -409, -410, -532-534, -536, - 537 (July 2000); Certain Pipe and Tube from Argentina, Brazil, India, Korea, Mexico, Taiwan, Thailand, and Turkey, USITC Pub. 3867, Inv. Nos. 701-TA-253, 731-TA-132, - 252, -271, -273, -409, -410, -532-534, -536 (July 2006); Certain Circular Welded Pipe and Tube from Brazil, India, Korea, Mexico, Taiwan, Thailand, and Turkey, USITC Pub. 4333, Inv. Nos. 701-TA-253, 731-TA-132, -252, -271, -273, -532-534, -536 (June 2012); Certain Circular Welded Pipe and Tube from Brazil, India, Korea, Mexico, Taiwan, Thailand, and Turkey, USITC Pub. 4754, Inv. Nos. 701-TA-253, 731-TA-132, -252, - 271, -273, -532-534, -536 (Jan. 2018). Court No. 21-00081 Page 12

Moreover, § 1517 does not entitle importers to “reasonable notice” that their

merchandise is within the scope of the AD order that the importer is alleged to have

evaded. See 19 U.S.C. § 1517

Reading the lack of exclusionary language in the Order alongside the lack of a

“reasonable notice” requirement in the evasion statute, the court concludes that the

decision of Customs to set the effective date of the evasion determination at October

18, 2018, the start date for the period of investigation for the evasion inquiry, was not

arbitrary, capricious or otherwise not in accordance with the law.

CONCLUSION

For the foregoing reasons, it is hereby

ORDERED that plaintiff’s motion for judgment on the agency record is DENIED,

and Customs’ determination of evasion is sustained. Judgment will enter accordingly.

/s/ Timothy M. Reif Timothy M. Reif, Judge

Dated: September 25, 2025 New York, New York