Commerce assigned Hilltop the 112.81% rate for the fifth consecutive review, based on a March 2012 submission by AHSTAC suggesting that shrimp was transshipped through Cambodia. Hilltop eventually acknowledged concealing the existence of its Cambodian affiliate, while refusing to answer Commerce inquiries regarding duty evasion. Commerce’s assignment of the 112.81% rate was affirmed by the U.S. Court of International Trade in July 2014, and Hilltop is appealing to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. Commerce estimates that Hilltop has duty liability in excess of $100 million as a result of this concern raised by AHSTAC.
Commerce’s responses to both Hilltop and Newpro demonstrate the agency’s commitment to enforcing the antidumping duty order on shrimp from China, as well as its unwillingness to tolerate false and misleading representations. These actions protect the integrity of Commerce’s administration of U.S. trade laws.