Guangdong Wireking Housewares & Hardware Co. v. United States

745 F.3d 1194, 2014 WL 1013123, 35 I.T.R.D. (BNA) 2589, 2014 U.S. App. LEXIS 5024
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Federal Circuit
DecidedMarch 18, 2014
Docket2013-1404
StatusPublished
Cited by25 cases

This text of 745 F.3d 1194 (Guangdong Wireking Housewares & Hardware Co. v. United States) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Guangdong Wireking Housewares & Hardware Co. v. United States, 745 F.3d 1194, 2014 WL 1013123, 35 I.T.R.D. (BNA) 2589, 2014 U.S. App. LEXIS 5024 (Fed. Cir. 2014).

Opinions

DYK, Circuit Judge.

Appellant Guangdong Wireking Housewares & Hardware, Co., Ltd. (“Wireking”) appeals from a judgment of the Court of International Trade (“Trade Court”). In [1196]*11962012, Congress enacted new legislation that overruled our decision in GPX Int’l Tire Corp. v. United States, 666 F.3d 732 (Fed.Cir.2011) (“GPX I”), reh’g granted, 678 F.3d 1308 (Fed.Cir.2012) (“GPX II”), and permitted the imposition of both anti-dumping and countervailing duties with respect to importers from non-market economy (“NME”) countries. Because this law is retroactive and does not require the Department of Commerce (“Commerce”) to adjust for any double counting that may result from the retroactive imposition of both countervailing and antidumping duties, the appellant argues that it violates the Ex Post Facto Clause of Article I, Section 9 of the U.S. Constitution. We affirm the Trade Court’s judgment that the new law does not violate the Ex Post Facto Clause.

BACKGROUND

I. Legislative and Judicial History

This case concerns two prior decisions of this court, GPX I and GPX II, and newly enacted legislation overruling our decision in GPX I.

The Tariff Act of 1930, as amended, permits Commerce to impose two types of duties on imports that injure domestic industries: First, Commerce may levy anti-dumping duties on goods “sold in the United States at less than ... fair value.” 19 U.S.C. § 1673 (2006). Second, Commerce may impose countervailing duties on goods that receive “a countervailable subsidy” from a foreign government. Id. § 1671(a). Thus, antidumping duties remedy unfair conduct on the part of importers, while countervailing duties are directed towards the unfair conduct of foreign governments.

In the case of goods imported from market economy countries, Commerce may impose both antidumping and countervailing duties. GPX I, 666 F.3d at 734. Commerce’s ability to collect both types of duties from market economy importers has long been accepted. The antidumping duty equals the amount the good’s price in the exporting country (the “home market price” or “normal value”) exceeds its price in the United States (the “export price” or “constructed export price”). See 19 U.S.C. §§ 1673, 1677a-1677b. If the importer is selling its product at a lower price in the United States than in its home market, this difference will result in an affirmative dumping margin. Whether a product is selling for less than fair market value can be determined by comparing the good’s normal values with export (or constructed export) prices for comparable merchandise, using statistically calculated weighted averages or data from individual transactions. See id. § 1677f-l(d)(l)(A).

The countervailing duty is “the amount of the net countervailable subsidy.” See id. § 1671(a). In other words, it equals the amount by which a foreign government subsidizes a particular product. To the extent that the subsidy reduces the home market price, the antidumping duty will be correspondingly reduced. Id. § 1677f-1(f)(1)(C).

With respect to NME countries, the method of calculating antidumping duties creates the possibility of double counting when both antidumping and countervailing duties are imposed. In NME countries, the “normal value” of a good is not calculated based on the actual home market sales price for antidumping purposes if Commerce determines that the available information does not permit it to calculate the good’s “normal value.” Id. § 1677b(c)(l)(B). Instead, in that scenario, the “normal value” is a surrogate calculation for the home market price in NME countries. The antidumping statute requires Commerce to estimate this “normal value” — the home market price — based on [1197]*1197data from “appropriate” market economy countries. Id. Thus, Commerce uses unsubsidized market economy prices to calculate the “normal value” of NME imports. This method of calculating “normal value” or home market price does not take account of the subsidization NME importers may receive that reduces the home market price. Therefore, the dual imposition of antidumping and countervailing duties on NME importers may double count for the subsidization advantage NME importers enjoy.

The history of countervailing duties with respect to NME countries is recounted in our GPX I decision and need not be repeated in detail here. See GPX I, 666 F.3d at 734-37. Briefly, until recently, countervailing duty law made no explicit provision with respect to NME countries and provided no explicit guidance as to how such duties should be levied on those countries. Commerce also maintained that it could not impose countervailing duties on NME importers. Id. at 735. However, in 2007, Commerce reversed its longstanding position and announced that it could and would apply countervailing duties to products of China, a NME country. Id.

This major policy change triggered the GPX I litigation. There, two Chinese tire manufacturers contested Commerce’s imposition of countervailing duties on their imports, contending that countervailing duties could not be imposed with respect to China. Id. at 736. Based on an extensive review of the history of the Tariff Act, focusing on its subsequent amendments and reenactments, this court found that “in amending and reenacting the trade laws in 1988 and 1994, Congress adopted [Commerce’s] position that countervailing duty law does not apply to NME countries.... We affirm the holding of the Trade Court that countervailing duties cannot be applied to goods from NME countries.” Id. at 745.

About two and a half months after we released GPX I, Congress enacted new legislation that overruled our GPX I decision. See 158 Cong. Rec. H1167 (daily ed. Mar. 6, 2012) (statement of Rep. Camp) (“This legislation ... overturns an erroneous decision by the Federal [C]ircuit that the Department of Commerce does not have the authority to apply these countervailing duty rules to nonmarket economies.”). The new law authorizes Commerce to impose countervailing duties on NME importers both prospectively as well as retrospectively.1 To assure compliance with the United States’ World Trade Organization (“WTO”) obligations, this law contains a provision that instructs Commerce to “reduce the antidumping duty [applied to NME imports] by the amount of the increase in the weighted average dumping margin estimated by [Commerce] [to result from the imposition of countervailing duties].” Application of Countervailing Duty Provisions to Nonmarket Economy Countries, § 2(a), Pub.L. No. 112-99, March 13, 2012, 126 Stat. 265 (March 13, 2012) (codified as amended at 19 U.S.C. § 1677fl(f)(l)(C)). Thus, the new law instructs Commerce to reduce the duties applied to NME imports when the antidumping and countervailing duties imposed on those goods double count for the same unfair trade advantage. This double-counting provision applies only prospectively to proceedings initiated after March 13, 2012, the date of the new law’s [1198]*1198enactment. Id. § 2(b).

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745 F.3d 1194, 2014 WL 1013123, 35 I.T.R.D. (BNA) 2589, 2014 U.S. App. LEXIS 5024, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/guangdong-wireking-housewares-hardware-co-v-united-states-cafc-2014.