Tianjin Wanhua Co. v. United States

253 F. Supp. 3d 1318, 2017 CIT 91, 2017 Ct. Intl. Trade LEXIS 92
CourtUnited States Court of International Trade
DecidedJuly 24, 2017
DocketCourt 15-00190; Slip Op. 17-91
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 253 F. Supp. 3d 1318 (Tianjin Wanhua Co. v. United States) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Court of International Trade primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Tianjin Wanhua Co. v. United States, 253 F. Supp. 3d 1318, 2017 CIT 91, 2017 Ct. Intl. Trade LEXIS 92 (cit 2017).

Opinion

OPINION and ORDER

Gordon, Judge:

This action involves the fifth administrative review conducted by the U.S. Department of Commerce (“Commerce”) of the antidumping duty order covering polyethylene terephthalate film, sheet, and strip from the People’s Republic of China (“PRC”). See Polyethylene Terephthalate Film, Sheet, and Strip from the People’s Republic of China, 80 Fed. Reg. 33,241 (Dep’t of Commerce June 11, 2015) (final results admin, review) (“Final Results”) and accompanying Issues and Decision Mem. for " Polyethylene Terephthalate Film, Sheet, and Strip from the People’s Republic of China, A-570-924 (Dep’t of Commerce June 3, 2015), ECF No. 33-3 (“Decision Memorandum”).

Before the court are the Final Results of Redetermination (“Remand Results”), ECF No. 71, filed by Commerce pursuant to Tianjin Wanhua Co. v. United States, 40 CIT -, 182 F.Supp.3d 1301 (2016), as well as the comments of Plaintiff Tianjin Wanhua Co., Ltd. (“Plaintiff’ or “Wan-hua”). See Pl.’s Comments on the U.S. Dep’t of Commerce’s First Remand Rede-termination, ECF No. 78 (“Pl.’s Cmts.”); see also Def.’s Resp. to Comments to the Remand Redetermination, ECF No. 82 (“Def.’s Resp. Cmts.”); PL’s Reply to Def.’s Resp. to Remand Comments, ECF No. 88 (“PL’s Reply Cmts.”). The court has jurisdiction pursuant to Section 516A(a)(2)(B)(iii) of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended, 19 U.S.C. § 1516a(a)(2)(B)(iii) (2012) 1 and 28 U.S.C. § 1581(c) (2012). The court sustains Commerce’s “determinations, findings, or conclusions” unless they are “unsupported by substantial evidence on the record, or otherwise not in accordance with law.” 19 U.S.C. § 1516a(b)(l)(B)(i). Familiarity with the prior judicial and administrative decisions in this action is presumed.

I. Standard of Review

For administrative reviews of anti-dumping duty orders, the court sustains Commerce’s “determinations, findings, or conclusions” unless they are “unsupported by substantial evidence on the record, or otherwise not in accordance with law.” 19 U.S.C. § 1516a(b)(l)(B)(i). More specifically, when reviewing agency determinations, findings, or conclusions for substantial evidence, the court assesses whether the agency action is reasonable given the record as a whole. Nippon *1321 Steel Corp. v. United States, 458 F.3d 1345, 1350-51 (Fed. Cir. 2006); see also Universal Camera Corp. v. NLRB, 340 U.S. 474, 488, 71 S.Ct. 456, 95 L.Ed. 456 (1951) (“The substantiality of evidence must take into account whatever in the record fairly detracts from its weight.”). Substantial evidence has been described as “such relevant evidence as a reasonable mind might accept as adequate to support a conclusion.” DuPont Teijin Films USA v. United States, 407 F.3d 1211, 1215 (Fed. Cir. 2005) (quoting Consol. Edison Co. v. NLRB, 305 U.S. 197, 229, 59 S.Ct. 206, 83 L.Ed. 126 (1938)). Substantial evidence has also been described as “something less than the weight of the evidence, and the possibility of drawing two inconsistent conclusions from the evidence does not prevent an administrative agency’s finding from being supported by substantial evidence.” Consolo v. Fed. Mar. Comm’n, 383 U.S. 607, 620, 86 S.Ct. 1018, 16 L.Ed.2d 131 (1966). Fundamentally, though, “substantial evidence” is best understood as a word formula connoting reasonableness review. 3 Charles H. Koch, Jr., Administrative Law and Practice § 9.24[1] (3d ed. 2017). Therefore, when addressing a substantial evidence issue raised by a party, the court analyzes whether the challenged agency action “was reasonable given the circumstances presented by the whole record.” 8A West’s Fed. Forms, National Courts § 3.6 (5th ed. 2017).

II. Discussion

A. Rejection of Data & Economic Comparability

1. Legal Framework

In an antidumping duty administrative review, Commerce determines whether subject merchandise is being, or is likely to be, sold at less than fair value in the United States by comparing the export price and the normal value of the merchandise. 19 U.S.C. §§ 1675(a)(2)(A), 1677b(a). In the non-market economy (“NME”) context, Commerce calculates normal value using data from surrogate countries to value the factors of production (“FOPs”). 19 U.S.C. § 1677b(c)(l)(B). Commerce must use the “best available information” in selecting surrogate data from “one or more” surrogate market economy countries. 19 U.S.C. § 1677b(c)(l)(B), (c)(4). Commerce has a stated regulatory preference to “normally ... value all factors in a single surrogate country.” 19 C.F.R. § 351.408(c)(2) (2015).

The antidumping statute requires that surrogate data must “to the extent possible” be from a market economy country or countries that are (1) “at a level of economic development comparable to that of the [NME] country” and (2) “significant producers of comparable merchandise.” 19 U.S.C. § 1677b(c)(4). The statute does not define the phrase “level of economic development comparable to that of the [NME] country,” nor does it require Commerce to use any particular methodology in determining whether that criterion is satisfied. To partially fill the statutory gap, Commerce promulgated 19 C.F.R. § 351.408(b), which emphasizes per capita Gross Domestic Product (“GDP”) as a measure of economic comparability:

In determining whether a country is at a level of economic development comparable to the non-market economy under [19 U.S.C. § 1677b(c)(l)(B) ] or [19 U.S.C. § 1677b(c)(4)(A) ] of the Act, the Secretary will place primary emphasis on per capita GDP as the measure of economic comparability.

19 C.F.R. § 351.408(b).

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253 F. Supp. 3d 1318, 2017 CIT 91, 2017 Ct. Intl. Trade LEXIS 92, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/tianjin-wanhua-co-v-united-states-cit-2017.