Dharmendra N. Choudhary

Dharmendra Choudhary, resident partner in Washington D.C., represents foreign exporters and U.S. importers in trade remedy proceedings before the U.S. Department of Commerce, the U.S. International Trade Commission, and in litigation before the U.S. Court of International Trade and the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. He has significant experience handling various facets of Antidumping duty (“ADD”) and Countervailing duty (“CVD”) cases from market and non-market economies (“NME”) such as China, Vietnam, Taiwan, Korea and India, covering a wide variety of products including steel, solar panel, wind towers, diamond sawblades, tires, chemicals etc. His Engineering background (Mechanical Engineering from the globally renowned IIT, Kanpur) and advanced knowledge of Chemistry and Metallurgy provides him with a unique perspective to be able to seamlessly integrate legal with technical issues and thereby develop the most robust record. 

Dharmendra is widely recognized by Commerce officials as well as the Trade bar as a preeminent expert on surrogate value and surrogate country issues, which are at the core of the NME ADD cases. His unique qualifications in the outcome of determinative surrogate value issues is also driven by his extensive contacts with businesses and institutions in several countries. He has shepherded numerous NME ADD investigation and review proceedings resulting in nil or very low rates. He also is an expert on intricate technical issues involved in market economy AD cases including particular market situation (“PMS”) and Cohen’s D test for differential pricing analysis. Prior to joining GDLSK, he served as Assistant, Deputy, Joint and Additional Commissioners in Customs and Central Excise Department of the Govt. of India from 1993 to 2006. During 2001-2005, he was a Special Counsel for the GOI before the apex Indirect Taxation Tribunal, CESTAT, where he argued several hundreds of Customs and Excise cases.

 Dharmendra is quite active with several Customs and Trade Associations. He has been a Vice Chair of Publications at the American Bar Association (“ABA”) for the last six years, during which period he also has been an editor of the International Trade chapter of the marquee The Year-in-Review, an annual publication of the ABA’s International Law Section. He is a prolific author and is credited with hundreds of published articles.

Dharmendra’s representative experience is vast. Dharmendra was lead counsel in a CVD Investigation on Steel Nails from India, for an Indian exporter, obtaining a no injury determination from the USITIC, Inv. Nos. 701-TA-673-675 and 677 (Final), resulting in a non-issuance of the CVD Order. He co-led a CIT appeal where pursuant to two remands, DOC removed a PMS adjustment in Constructed value, resulting in elimination of ADD duties on a welded steel pipe exporter from India. Dharmendra co-led a CIT appeal resulting in elimination of ADD duties on all exports of activated carbon from China. Calgon Carbon Corp. v. United States, 517 F. Supp. 3d 1374 (CIT 2021). Dharmendra has been co-counsel in all of China and Vietnam ADD cases since 2007, several of which resulted in elimination of ADD duties. E.g. 2018-19 ADD review of solar panels from China, resulting in zero ADD duty; Crystalline Silicon Photovoltaic Cells from China, 86 Fed. Reg. 58,871 (Oct. 25, 2021); multiple ADD reviews of Xanthan gum from China resulting in zero Ad duties; ADD Investigation of Passenger and Light Truck Tires from China, 86 Fed. Reg. 28,559 (May 27, 2021). 

Mr. Choudhary is the author of China’s Transition to a Market Economy Status Nullified by New US Trade Remedies Legislation, ABA Section of International Law, International Law News. Volume 45. No.3 (Dec. 1, 2017), New US Trade Remedies Legislation Renders Academic the Issue of China’s Transition to a market Economy Status, CITBA Newsletter, Volume 14 Issue 3 (Sep. 1, 2016), US Has Backup Trade tool to Take on China, Bloomberg BND International Trade Daily (May 15, 2017), Commerce’s Irrevocable VAT Deduction Policy is Unlawful and Unreasonable, CITBA Spring 2017 Newsletter (May 1, 2017), Six Ways President Donald Trump can ignite a trade war with China, China Law and Practice, Q2, Vol 31, No. 2, 2017 (Apr. 1, 2017), EAPA regulations Empower CBP to Prosecute ADD-CVD Evasion in an Adversarial Proceeding, ABA Section of International Law. International Trade Committee Newsletter Volume IX No. 1 (Feb. 24, 2017), Myth Versus Reality: Dumping of Imported Chinese Goods, Global Trade Magazine (Feb. 16, 2017), China Nears WTO Watershed, China Law & Practice (Nov. 1, 2016), Indian Exporters in the Crosshairs of New US Trade and Customs Legislations, Indian Engineering Reports (Nov. 1, 2016), No End in Sight for Vietnamese Exporters from Surrogate Value Methodology in US Antidumping Proceedings, Vietnam Law & Legal Forum (Nov. 1, 2016), New US Customs Laws Could Impact Canadian Exporters, Thomson Reuters (Oct. 13, 2016) and “Evolution of Patent Laws – Developing Countries’ Perspective” (2006) (Capital Law House, Delhi).

New York University School of Law, LLM (Trade Regulation) (2007)

Delhi University, LLB (2005)

IIT Kanpur, Mechanical Engineering (B. Tech.), (1989)

U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (2015)

U.S. Court of International Trade (2012)

U.S. District Court, Eastern District of New York (2009)

U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York (2009)

American Bar Association (2009)

Customs and International Trade Bar Association (2012)

District of Columbia Bar Association (2021)

New York State Bar Association (2009)