Full opinion text
OPINION GARRETT E. BROWN, Jr., Chief Judge. TABLE OF CONTENTS I. Introduction..............................................................327 II. Procedural Background....................................................327 III. Factual Background.......................................................329 IV. Distinction Between the Relevant Tests and Burdens..........................330 A. Standard and Burden Associated with Jurisdictional Inquiry...............330 B. Standard Associated with Pleading Underlying Claims.....................332 C. Burden Associated with Asserting Abstention............................334 V. Aspects Related to the FTAIA..............................................335 A. Subject Matter Jurisdiction under the Export Exception to the FTAIA Bar...............................................................335 1. Interplay Between the Sherman Act, FTAIA and Hartford Fire.........335 2. Plaintiffs Fail to Provide Factual Proof Meeting the FTAIA Exception......................................................339 a. Paragraph One...............................................339 b. Paragraph Three.............................................341 e. Paragraph Twenty-Nine.......................................341 d. Paragraph Forty-Seven.......................................341 e. Paragraph Forty-Eight.......................................344 f. Paragraph Forty-Nine........................................345 g. Paragraph Fifty..............................................346 h. Paragraph Fifty-One .........................................346 i. Paragraph Fifty-Five.........................................347 j. Paragraph Sixty-Five.........................................349 k. Paragraph Seventy-Two.......................................361 l. Paragraph Seventy-Five ......................................362 m. Amended Complaint Fails to Meet the FTAIA Exception..........362 B. Subject Matter Jurisdiction Under the Introductory Clause of the FTAIA............................................................362 1. Plaintiffs’ Allegations..............................................363 2. Claim That Defendants Effectively Acted as Importers ................364 a. Plaintiffs’ Legal Position.......................................365 b. Coors Does Not Lend Support to Plaintiffs’ Legal Position.........367 c. Plaintiffs’ Position Contradicts the Gist of the Third Circuit Law ......................................................369 d. Sales to an American Intermediary or American End-Consumer.............................................374 3. Plaintiffs’ Factual Proof as to Defendants’ Importer Status.............375 a. Plaintiffs’ Own Exhibits .......................................375 b. Discrepancies in Defendants’ Statements ........................376 c. Defendants’ Exhibits..........................................377 VI. Leave to Amend..........................................................378 A. General Rule.........................................................378 B. Implications of Twombly, Iqbal and Factual Review Under Turicentro.....380 C. Limited Leave to Amend Is in the Interests of Justice.....................382 D. Prudential Considerations .............................................384 VII. The FSIA and Abstention Aspects..........................................384 A. Standard of Review...................................................385 B. Applicable Legal Tests................................................385 1. The FSIA........................................................385 2. The Act of State Doctrine..........................................388 3. The Concept of Comity............................................389 4. Government Compulsion...........................................391 C. Parties’ Relevant Exhibits and Factual Assertions ........................394 1. Defendants’ Moving Papers ........................................394 2. Plaintiffs’ Opposition ..............................................397 3. Defendants’Reply.................................................400 D. Relevant Legal Proceedings and Evidence Submitted Therein..............401 1. Judicial Notice and the Concept of Stare Decisis ......................401 2. Antidumping and Countervailing Proceedings.........................403 a. European Union Proceedings ..................................405 b. Proceedings Before the International Trade Administration........409 3. Antitrust Proceedings .............................................410 a. Proceedings in the Western District of Pennsylvania..............410 b. Vitamin C Proceedings........................................413 E. The FSIA Appears Relevant as to Some Defendants ......................418 F. The Act of State Doctrine Does Not Warrant Abstention...................420 G. Doctrine of Government Compulsion Appears Relevant....................421 1. Preliminary Considerations.........................................421 a. Concept of Compulsion through the Prism of Common Law........421 b. Concept of Compulsion through the Prism of Foreign Regimes.....422 c. Deference to Statements Made by an Arm of a Foreign Sovereign..................................................425 2. The CCCMC Is a Government Entity for the Purposes of the Doctrine.......................................................429 3. Presence of Compulsory Processes..................................437 a. Source of Compulsion.........................................437 b. Theoretical Severity...........................................439 c. Actual Existence of Prescripts..................................441 d. Composite Effect.............................................448 e. Miscellaneous Considerations ..................................452 4. Compulsion Established and Asserted...............................462 VIII. Conclusion...............................................................464 1. INTRODUCTION This matter comes before the Court upon Plaintiffs’ filing of an amended complaint (“Amended Complaint” or “Am. Compl.”), see Docket Entry No. 77, and upon submission of two motions to dismiss the Amended Complaint; these submissions were made by two groups of Defendants, ie., by: (1) China Minmetals Corp. and China National Minerals Co., Ltd. (collectively, “Minmetals Defendants”); and (2) Sinosteel Corp., Sinosteel Trading Co. and Liaoning Jiayi Metals & Minerals Co., Ltd. (collectively, “Sinosteel Defendants”). See Docket Entry No. 98 (“Sinosteel’s Motion” or “S/Mot.”) and Docket Entry No. 99 (“Minmetals’ Motion” or “M/ Mot.”). Plaintiffs duly filed their opposition to Sinosteel and Minmetals’ Motions, see Docket Entry No. 105 (“Plaintiffs’ Opposition” or “Opp.”), to which the aforesaid two groups of Defendants duly replied. See Docket Entry No. 109 (“Minmetals’ Reply” or “M/Reply”) and Docket Entry No. 110 (“Sinosteel’s Reply” or “S/Reply”). For the reasons stated below, Sinosteel and Minmetals’ Motions will be granted, and the Amended Complaint will be dismissed as to the Minmetals and Sinosteel Defendants. This dismissal, however, will be, in part, without prejudice, and Plaintiffs will be allowed to amend their pleadings and to provide the Court with factual proof establishing that Defendants were acting as “importers” during the putative Class Period. II. PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND Being initiated almost half a decade ago, this matter has accrued a rather substantial procedural history. However, the bulk of these developments is largely irrelevant to the issues at hand and, hence, it should suffice to merely note that, on September 7, 2005, Plaintiffs Animal Science Products, Inc. (“Animal Science”) and Resco Products, Inc. (“Resco”) filed a civil complaint (“Original Complaint”) on behalf of a putative class and named seventeen Chinese business entities as Defendants. The issues related to service of process dominated the next two years of litigation. See, e.g., Docket Entries Nos. 3-50; see also Docket Entry No. 73 (“December Opinion” or “Dec. Op.”), at 3-4 (detailing these procedural developments). Eventually, Plaintiffs moved for a default judgment, which triggered Defendants’ motion for dismissal of the Original Complaint. See Sep. Op. at 3-4. These key revolutions were accompanied by: (a) an extensive litigation on the issue of whether this matter should be resolved by arbitration instead of being litigated; and (b) a panoply of peripheral claims and challenges based on a multitude of substantive and procedural issues. See id.; see also Docket Entries Nos. 3-63. On September 15, 2008, this matter was reassigned to the undersigned and, on October 6, 2008, this Court held oral arguments as to the constellation of the then-pending motions. On December 30, 2008, this Court issued its December Opinion and accompanying order. See Docket Entries Nos. 73 and 74. The order dismissed the Original Complaint without prejudice, and disposed of the then-pending Plaintiffs and Defendants’ motions on various grounds. The accompanying December Opinion ended with a guidance as to motion practice: Thus far, the Court has been presented with a multitude of motions (in addition to those addressed in [the December] Opinion). Since these motions, as well as peripheral challenge^] embedded in the [m]otions [to dismiss] resolved by this discussion, raise a panoply of issues, the Court finds it prudent to provide the parties with a roadmap to the future litigation in the event: (a) Plaintiffs’ elect to take advantage of the leave to file an amended complaint; and (b) Defendants elect to renew some or all of the challenges extended in Defendants’ motions and/or scattered in Defendants’ oppositions to Plaintiffs’ [m]otion [for default judgment]. Hence, in the event Plaintiffs file an amended complaint, Plaintiffs must incorporate in their submission evidentiary proof allowing the Court to conduct a factual determination (in contrast with the facial analysis conducted herein) and to conclusively satisfy itself as to presence of lack of subject matter jurisdiction over this action. In .the event Defendants wish to extend challenges to the Court’s subject matter jurisdiction and/or to assert that the Court shall abstain from resolving the instant matter on the grounds involving any provision, judicially-createfd] doctrine or public policy related to a foreign sovereign’s action or to Chinese regulatory or legal regime, Defendants should do so at their first opportunity to respond to the amended complaint. If, and only if, the Court: (a) determines that it has proper subject matter jurisdiction over this action; and (b) finds that it shall not abstain from resolving it, Defendants may, if they so desire, renew their currently extended challenges in the following order: (1) Defendants shall first raise their challenges based on the alleged lack of personal jurisdiction, insufficient service of process and improper venue; (2) only in the event Defendants elect not to raise such challenges, of if the Court determines that in personam jurisdiction was duly obtained and, in addition, establishes that the instant matter is properly before the Court, Defendants may, if they wish, re-raise their argument that the Court shall compel arbitration of this action; and (3) if, and only if, Defendants elect not to raise such challenge or the Court denies Defendants’ request to compel arbitration, Defendants may, if they so desire, renew their challenges asserting Plaintiffs’ lack of standing and failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted. Dec. Op. at 59-60. The parties duly complied with the aforesaid guidance. Plaintiffs filed their Amended Complaint naming, in addition to the Minmetals and Sinosteel Defendants, the following entities as Defendants in this matter: Xiyang Group; Xiyang (Pacific) Import & Export Ltd. Co.; Xiyang Refractory Materials Ltd. Co.; Xiyang Fireproof Material Co. Ltd.; Liaoning Foreign Trade General Co.; Dalian Golden Sun Import & Export Co.; Haicheng Houying Co. Ltd.; Haicheng Huayu Group Import & Export Co. Ltd. (Huaziyu); Haicheng Pailou Magnesite Ore Co. Ltd. and Yingkou Huachen Co. Ltd. See Docket Entry No. 77, at 1-3. In response, Defendants filed the Motions at hand, challenging the Amended Complaint on the grounds of subject matter jurisdiction and failure to meet the pleading requirements and, in addition, setting forth numerous arguments advocating abstention. III. FACTUAL BACKGROUND Since the allegations raised in the Amended Complaint — and corresponding challenges raised in the Minmetals and Sinosteel’s Motions — fall into two broad categories, one addressing a multitude of aspects related to abstention and/or Defendants’ immunity from suit, and another related to this Court’s subject matter jurisdiction and Plaintiffs’ compliance with the pleading requirements — a detailed recital of all allegations and challenges currently before the Court might be unnecessarily overwhelming, while a short summary of the same could cause the parties an undue concern that the Court’s omission of certain aspects from such summary might be a sign that these aspects have escaped the Court’s attention. Consequently, it appears useful to detail the relevant assertions and challenges in connection with discussion of each individual group of legal issues and, at the instant juncture, it should be sufficient to simply outline the key background points. Here, Plaintiffs are United States enterprises that consume, for the purpose of conducting their respective businesses, magnesite-based products. See Am. Compl. §§ 10, 11. All Defendants named in the Amended Complaint are Chinese business entities involved in the sale of magnesite-based products. See id. §§ 12-27. Plaintiffs assert that each of the named Defendants either “directly sold magnesite products to the U.S. companies and shipped magnesite products to the United States” or “engage[d] in metal and minerals trading among other things, including export of magnesite to the United States.” Id. Plaintiffs further assert that the overall prices charged for Chinese magnesite were artificially inflated because: (a) “[ejach of these Defendants and its co-conspirators has colluded with each other to restrain competition by, among other things, setting artificial prices pursuant to illegal horizontal agreements among [themselves],” id. § 29; and (b) “[t]hese horizontal practices were designed to, and in fact did, have a substantial and adverse impact in the United States.” Id. § 30. In light of the foregoing, Plaintiffs claim that Defendants’ actions violated Section 1 of the Sherman Act, 15 U.S.C. § l. Defendants challenge the Amended Complaint asserting that: (1) Plaintiffs’ allegations fail to meet the applicable pleading requirements; (2) Plaintiffs’ allegations depict a picture which — under the Foreign Trade Antitrust Improvements Act (“FTAIA”) and the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act (“FSIA”) — strips this Court of subject matter jurisdiction over this matter; and/or (3) considerations of comity and the tenets of the “act of state” and “government compulsion” doctrines warrant abstention. See generally, M/Mot, S/Mot, M/Reply and S/Reply. To the degree this panoply of issues allows, the Court will address these challenges seriatim. IV. DISTINCTION BETWEEN THE RELEVANT TESTS AND BURDENS Since there appears to be confusion among the parties as to the applicable tests, the allocation of burdens and the procedural propriety of related inquiries, the Court finds it prudent to clarify these matters at the outset of this discussion. For instance, Plaintiffs seem to assert that they need not address factual subject matter jurisdictional challenges since the Minmetals’ Motion raises only facial jurisdictional challenges, and the Sinosteel’s Motion “purports to raise factual challenges but the majority of its arguments concern purported deficiencies in Plaintiffs!”] allegations.” Opp., at 26. In addition, Plaintiffs maintain that the resolution of the subject matter jurisdictional aspect “should be postponed until summary judgment or a trial on the merits” because a decision as to subject matter jurisdiction would have a dispositive effect on the merits of Plaintiffs’ Sherman Act claims. See id. Defendants, on their part, make no distinction between the facial and factual standards and paraphrase their arguments with regard to the Court’s subject matter jurisdiction in terms applicable to a facial review. See, e.g., M/Mot., at 10-11 (discussing Rule 8 facial pleading requirements for the purposes of Defendants’ factual analysis of the Court’s subject matter jurisdiction). Moreover, Defendants seem to maintain that the Court must abstain from resolving this matter because Plaintiffs make insufficient assertions as to why this Court should not abstain from resolving it. See, generally, id. at 11-19, S/Reply at 19-23. A. Standard and Burden Associated with Jurisdictional Inquiry Contrary to what appears to be Plaintiffs’ impression, the subject matter jurisdiction inquiry initiated in this case was not a result of the challenges raised by the Minmetals Defendants or by the Sinosteel Defendants (or by any other Defendant); rather, the issue was raised by this Court sua sponte in light of the jurisdictional uncertainties presented by the case at bar. The Court’s decision to look into the jurisdictional aspect ensued from the Court of Appeals’ guidance that each “[c]ourt has a continuing obligation to sua sponte raise the issue of subject matter jurisdiction.” Bracken v. Matgouranis, 296 F.3d 160, 162 (3d Cir.2002); see also Morel v. INS, 144 F.3d 248, 251 n. 3 (3d Cir.1998) (quoting Ins. Corp. of Ireland, Ltd. v. Compagnie des Bauxites de Guinee, 456 U.S. 694, 702, 102 S.Ct. 2099, 72 L.Ed.2d 492 (1982), as to the observation that “[a] federal court ... will raise lack of subject-matter jurisdiction on its own motion”). Next, the burden to establish subject matter jurisdiction falls squarely on Plaintiffs since Plaintiffs invoked the Court’s jurisdiction by bringing this action. See Kokkonen v. Guardian Life Ins. Co., 511 U.S. 375, 377, 114 S.Ct. 1673, 128 L.Ed.2d 391 (1994) (clarifying that a federal court shall presume lack of jurisdiction, and the party seeking to invoke the court’s jurisdiction bears the burden of proving that subject matter jurisdiction exists). Consequently, any potential shortcomings of — or any potential errors in — Defendants’ subject matter jurisdictional challenges cannot have any effect on Plaintiffs’ burden, except with regard to the issues discussed in “The FSIA” section of this Opinion, infra. As this Court already pointed out in its December Opinion, deficiencies as to the “subject matter jurisdiction may be either ‘facial’ or ‘factual.’ ” Turicentro, S.A. v. Am. Airlines, Inc., 303 F.3d 293, 300, n. 4 (3d Cir.2002). The distinction between factual and facial assessments is rather dramatic. In a facial attack (that is, addressing a challenge based on the assertions made in the plaintiffs pleadings), the trial court must accept the complaint’s allegations as true, i.e., the court merely requires the plaintiff to articulate the factual premise of his/her contentions, without providing the court with any actual evidence underlying the plaintiffs factual assertions. “In contrast, a trial court considering a factual attack accords plaintiffs allegations no presumption of truth,” and requires production of actual evidence upon which the plaintiff bases his/her factual contentions. Turicentro, 303 F.3d at 299, n. 4. Consequently, when assessing a factual — rather than facial — deficiency, the court “can look beyond the pleadings to decide factual matters relating to jurisdiction.” Cestonaro v. United States, 211 F.3d 749, 752 (3d Cir.2000); see also Mortensen v. First Fed. Sav. & Loan Ass’n, 549 F.2d 884, 891 (3d Cir.1977) (a factual inquiry into the district court’s jurisdiction under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(1) is not confined to the allegations in the complaint). Furthermore, there is no procedural limitation as to the point in litigation in which a factual inquiry as to the subject matter jurisdiction may be undertaken. While it is true that, “in the Sherman Act context, jurisdictional facts are often closely intertwined with the merits of the claim,” Carpet Group Int’l v. Oriental Rug Importers Ass’n, 227 F.3d 62, 73 (3d Cir.2000), the court in CNA v. United States, 535 F.3d 132, 145 (3d Cir.2008), which is the case relied upon by Plaintiffs, never held that the subject matter jurisdictional inquiry must be postponed until summary judgment, or until trial. Rather, the CNA court merely directed the district courts to “ensure that defendants [were] not allowed to use Rule 12(b)(1) to resolve the merits [of plaintiffs’ claim] too early in litigation.” Id. (emphasis supplied). Here, the threshold subject matter jurisdictional inquiry is whether the FTAIA applies to this matter, thereby removing this Court’s jurisdiction to address the merits of Plaintiffs’ Sherman Act claims. While the intricacies of the FTAIA are discussed infra (and the Sherman Act test would be addressed only if subject matter jurisdiction over this matter is established), the Court presumes the parties’ familiarity with the basic proposition that, “[t]o establish a violation of Section 1, a plaintiff must prove: (1) concerted action by the defendants; (2) that produced anti-competitive effects within the relevant product and geographic markets; (3) that the concerted action [was] illegal; and (4) that [the plaintiff was actually] injured as a proximate result of the concerted action.” Gordon v. Lewistown Hosp., 423 F.3d 184, 207 (3d Cir.2005) (citations omitted), cert. denied, 547 U.S. 1092, 126 S.Ct. 1777, 164 L.Ed.2d 557 (2006). In contrast, to avoid the FTAIA jurisdictional bar, the plaintiff must show either that: (a) the defendants are importers of goods/services in the United States, see 15 U.S.C. § 6a (stating the notoriously inelegant introduction that “[the Sherman Act] shall not apply to conduct involving trade or commerce [] other than import trade or import commerce []”); accord Carpet Group, 227 F.3d 62 at 72; Turicentro, 303 F.3d at 302; or, in alternative, (b) show that the defendants are exporters whose conduct “[had/]has a direct, substantial and reasonably foreseeable effect” on the United States domestic trade or commence. See 15 U.S.C. § 6a(1); accord Turicentro, 303 F.3d at 302; Kruman v. Christie’s Intern. PLC, 284 F.3d 384, 395 (2d Cir.2002), overruled on other grounds, F. Hoffmann-LaRoche, Ltd. v. Empagran, S.A., 542 U.S. 155, 124 S.Ct. 2359, 159 L.Ed.2d 226 (2004). Even a purely mechanical comparison of the elements comprising the Sherman Act standard with the elements of the FTAIA test reveals that these two tests, while perhaps peripherally related, have so little in common that a resolution of the threshold FTAIA aspect cannot be deemed substantively dispositive for purposes of the merits of the underlying Sherman Act claims. Therefore, the caution articulated by the CNA court appears virtually inapplicable to a FTAIA-based scenario, since' — without engaging in undue overreaching — a judicial decision disposing of a FTAIA challenge does not prematurely resolve the merits of the underlying Sherman Act claims. B. Standard Associated with Pleading Underlying Claims Since Plaintiffs’ Original Complaint asserted fraudulent conduct by Defendants, Plaintiffs’ prior pleadings were examined under the requirements of Rule 9. However, the Amended Complaint no longer makes these assertions. Therefore, for the purposes of their Sherman Act claims, Plaintiffs’ new set of allegations is subject to review under Rule 8. It is long established that a court should “accept as true all of the [factual] allegations in the complaint and reasonable inferences that can be drawn therefrom, and view them in the light most favorable to the plaintiff.” Morse v. Lower Merion School Dist., 132 F.3d 902, 906 (3d Cir.1997). Nonetheless, the Third Circuit has noted that courts are not required to credit bald assertions or legal conclusions improperly alleged in the complaint. See Burlington Coat Fact. Sec. Litig., 114 F.3d 1410, 1429 (3d Cir.1997). Therefore, legal conclusions draped in the guise of factual allegations may not benefit from the presumption of truthfulness. See Nice Sys., Ltd. Sec. Litig., 135 F.Supp.2d 551, 565 (D.N.J.2001). Addressing the clarifications as to the litigant’s pleading requirement stated by the United States Supreme Court in Bell Atl. Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544, 127 S.Ct. 1955, 167 L.Ed.2d 929 (2007), the Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit provided the district courts with guidance as to what pleadings are sufficient to pass muster under Rule 8. See Phillips v. County of Allegheny, 515 F.3d 224, 230-34 (3d Cir.2008). Specifically, the Court of Appeals observed as follows: “While a complaint ... does not need detailed factual allegations, a plaintiffs obligation [is] to provide the ‘grounds’ of his ‘entitle[ment] to relief .... ” Twombly, 127 S.Ct. at 1964-65 ... “[T]he threshold requirement of Rule 8(a)(2) [is] that the ‘plain statement [must] possess enough heft to ‘sho[w] that the pleader is entitled to relief.’ ’ ” Id. at 1966. [Hence] “factual allegations must be enough to raise a right to relief above the speculative level.” Id. at 1965 & n. 3. Id. at 230-34 (original brackets removed). This pleading standard was further refined by the United States Supreme Court in its recent decision Ashcroft v. Iqbal, — U.S. -, 129 S.Ct. 1937, 173 L.Ed.2d 868 (2009), where the Supreme Court clarified as follows: [In any civil action, t]he pleading standard ... demands more than an unadorned [“]the-defendant-unlawfully-harmed-me[”] accusation. [Twombly, 550 U.S.] at 555, 127 S.Ct. 1955 .... A pleading that offers “labels and conclusions” or “a formulaic recitation of the elements of a cause of action will not do.” [Id.] at 555, 127 S.Ct. 1955. [Moreover,] the plausibility standard ... asks for more than a sheer possibility that a defendant has acted unlawfully. Id. [Indeed, even w]here a complaint pleads facts that are “merely consistent with” a defendant’s liability, [the so-alleging complaint still] “stops short of [showing] plausibility of ‘entitlement to relief.’” Id. at 557, 127 S.Ct. 1955 (brackets omitted). [A fortiori,] the tenet that a court must accept as true all of the allegations contained in a complaint is inapplicable to legal conclusions [or to t]hreadbare recitals of the elements of a cause of action, supported by mere conclusory statements [, i.e., by] legal conclusion[s] couched as a factual allegation [e.g.,] the plaintiffs’ assertion of an unlawful agreement [or] that [defendants] adopted a policy “ ‘because of,’ not merely ‘in spite of,’ its adverse effects upon an identifiable group.” .... [W]e do not reject these bald allegations on the ground that they are unrealistic or nonsensical .... It is the conclusory nature of [these] allegations ... that disentitles them to the presumption of truth.... [Finally,] the question [of sufficiency of] pleadings does not turn [on] the discovery process. [Twombly, 550 U.S.] at 559,127 S.Ct. 1955 .... [The plaintiff] is not entitled to discovery [where the complaint asserts some wrongs] “generally,” [ie., as] a conclusory allegation [since] Rule 8 does not [allow] pleading the bare elements of [the] cause of action [and] affix[ing] the label “general allegation” [in hope of developing actual facts through discovery]. Iqbal, 129 S.Ct. at 1949-54. The Third Circuit observed that Iqbal hammered the “final nail-in-the-coffin” for the “no set of facts” standard set forth in Conley v. Gibson, 355 U.S. 41, 45-46, 78 S.Ct. 99, 2 L.Ed.2d 80 (1957), which was applied to federal complaints before Twombly. See Fowler v. UPMC Shadyside, 578 F.3d 203 (3d Cir.2009). Since Iqbal, the Third Circuit has instructed district courts to conduct, with regard to Rule 8 allegations, a two-part analysis when the district courts are presented with a Rule 12(b)(6) motion to dismiss: First, the factual and legal elements of a claim should be separated. The District Court must accept all of the complaint’s well-pleaded facts as true, but may disregard any legal conclusions. [See Iqbal, 129 S.Ct. at 1949-50]. Second, a District Court must then determine whether the facts alleged in the complaint are sufficient to show that the plaintiff has a “plausible claim for relief’ [in light of the definition of “plausibility” provided in Iqbal.] In other words, a complaint must do more than allege the plaintiff’s entitlement to relief. A complaint has to “show” such an entitlement with its facts. See Phillips, 515 F.3d at 234-35. As the Supreme Court instructed in Iqbal, “[w]here the well-pleaded facts do not permit the court to infer more than the mere possibility of misconduct, the complaint has alleged-but it has not ‘show [n]’-‘that the pleader is entitled to relief’ ” Iqbal, [129 S.Ct. at 1949-50 (emphasis supplied) ]. This “plausibility” determination will be “a context-specific task that requires the reviewing court to draw on its judicial experience and common sense.” Id Fowler, 578 F.3d at 210-11 (emphasis supplied). C. Burden Associated with Asserting Abstention The Supreme Court has long rejected the rigid proposition that abstention is a technical rule of equity procedure. See Quackenbush v. Allstate Ins. Co., 517 U.S. 706, 718, 116 S.Ct. 1712, 135 L.Ed.2d 1 (1996). Rather, the Court held that “the authority of a federal court to abstain from exercising its jurisdiction extends to all cases in which the court has discretion to grant or deny relief.” Id. at 718, 116 S.Ct. 1712. However, as the parties seeking abstention, Defendants bear the burden of showing that abstention is the appropriate course. Cf. Colo. River Water Conservation Dist. v. United States, 424 U.S. 800, 814, 96 S.Ct. 1236, 47 L.Ed.2d 483 (1976) (“The doctrine of abstention, under which a District Court may decline to exercise or postpone the exercise of its jurisdiction, is an extraordinary and narrow exception to the duty of a District Court to adjudicate a controversy properly before it”); Sheerbonnet v. American Express Bank, Ltd., 17 F.3d 46, 49 (2d Cir.1994) (given “the virtually unflagging obligation of the federal courts” to exercise jurisdiction where warranted, a defendant seeking abstention faces a heavy burden). Consequently, any potential shortcomings of — or any potential errors in — Plaintiffs’ position advocating against abstention cannot reduce or otherwise affect Defendants’ burden of establishing that this Court should refrain from resolving this matter. Y. THE FTAIA ASPECT A. Subject Matter Jurisdiction under the Export Exception to the FTAIA Bar 1. Interplay Between the Sherman Act, FTAIA and Hartford Fire As with the above-discussed issues of applicable standards and burdens, there appears to be a certain confusion among the parties as to the relationship between the governing statutory provision and relevant common law precedents addressing the issue of federal jurisdiction over the claims alleging collusive agreements within the context of international trade. See, e.g., S/Mot., at 7 (suggesting the presence of two different tests by stating: “Plaintiffs’ ... allegations are insufficient to establish that Defendants’ alleged conspiracy involved United States “import commerce” or had a “direct, substantial, and reasonably foreseeable effect” on U.S. commerce, as required by the ... FTAIA ... or that [Defendants’ conduct] involved ‘import commerce’ or trade that had ‘substantial effeet[s]’ on U.S. domestic commerce, as required by Hartford Fire Ins[.] Co. v. California ”). The Sherman Act prohibits “[e]very contract, combination in the form of trust or otherwise, or conspiracy, in restraint of trade or commerce among the several States, or with foreign nations.” 15 U.S.C. § 1. Federal courts have struggled for decades to determine their jurisdiction over allegations of foreign restraints of trade. See, e.g., Areeda & Hovenkamp, Antitrust Law, ¶ 272 (2d ed. 2000); see also Den Norske Stats Oljeselskap As v. Heere-Mac v.o.f, 241 F.3d 420, 423-24 (5th Cir.2001) (“The history of this body of case law is confusing and unsettled”). Prior to the passage of the FTAIA, the courts applied various tests in order to determine when foreign conduct fell within the purview of the Sherman Act. The most widely used standard was the “effects test,” which was developed by the Second Circuit in United States v. Aluminum, Co. of Am. (“Alcoa ”), 148 F.2d 416, 444 (2d Cir.1945). The Alcoa court considered whether Congress intended the Sherman Act to impose liability for conduct outside the United States and under which circumstances the Constitution allowed Congress to do so. See id. Judge Hand rejected the idea that Congress meant “to punish all whom [United States] courts can catch.” Id. at 443. Instead, the Alcoa court held that the Sherman Act was meant to reach foreign conduct only if that conduct was intended to affect (and did, in fact, affect) United States commerce. See id. Accordingly, in Hartford Fire Ins. Co. v. California, the Supreme Court focused on the “intent-to-affect” language of Alcoa and summarized the effects test by stating that “it is well established by now that the Sherman Act applies to foreign conduct that was meant to produce and did in fact produce some substantial effect in the United States.” 509 U.S. 764, 796, 113 S.Ct. 2891, 125 L.Ed.2d 612 (1993) (citing Alcoa, emphasis supplied). Application of the Alcoa effects test, however, proved difficult, causing the precise extraterritorial reach of the Sherman Act to remain less than crystal clear. In response to that difficulty, Congress enacted the FTAIA in 1982 — because the “courts differed] in their expression of the proper test for determining whether United States antitrust jurisdiction over international transactions exists,” H.R.Rep. No. 97-686 (1982), reprinted in, U.S.C.C.A.N. 2487, 2487 (1982) — the statute, hence, built on the common law principle established in Alcoa and embraced in Hartford Fire. In no ambiguous terms, the FTAIA “clarif[ied] the Sherman Act [by] mak[ing it] explicit [that, in foreign trade cases, the Sherman Act had] application only to conduct having a ‘direct, substantial and reasonably foreseeable effect’ on domestic commerce.” Id. Specifically, the FTAIA provided that: [The Sherman Act] shall not apply to conduct involving trade or commerce (other than import trade or import commerce) with foreign nations unless— (1) such conduct has a direct, substantial, and reasonably foreseeable effects (A) ... on [United States] import trade or import commerce with foreign nations ... and (2) such effect gives rise to a claim under the [Sherman Act]. 15 U.S.C. § 6a (emphasis supplied). Although subsection (1) created an exception to the FTAIA’s jurisdictional bar with regard to those claims that were raised against foreign exporters, the language of this exception did not clarify the meaning of the phrase “direct, substantial, and reasonably foreseeable effect,” and federal courts’ lack of interest in the FTAIA for the first decade after its enactment created an interpretative void opening the door to a debate as to whether the FTAIA established a new jurisdictional standard or merely codified the very same test that was articulated in Alcoa and Hartford Fire. The gap was filled by the Ninth Circuit, which reasoned as follows: Our task when interpreting legislation is to give meaning to the words used by Congress; we strive to avoid constructions that render words meaningless. See United States v. Fiorillo, 186 F.3d 1136, 1153 (9th Cir.1999). The FTAIA states that the Sherman Act shall not apply to foreign conduct unless it has a “direct, substantial, and reasonably foreseeable effect” on domestic commerce. [See ] 15 U.S.C. § 6a(1). [In contrast,] the Supreme Court [explained that] the Alcoa test ... conferfs] jurisdiction so long as the conduct creates “some substantial effect in the United States.” Hartford Fire, 509 U.S. at 796, 113 S.Ct. 2891. Unlike the FTAIA, the Alcoa test does not require the effect to be “direct.” [Hence, a]dopting the [reading of the FTAIA equivalent to that of] applying the Alcoa test would render meaningless the word “direct” in the FTAIA. We are not willing to rewrite a statute under the pretense of interpreting it. Moreover, applying Alcoa instead of the FTAIA would contravene the FTAIA’s purpose. The FTAIA created its jurisdictional test because the “enactment of a single, objective test — the ‘direct, substantial, and reasonably foreseeable effect’ test — -will serve as a simple and straightforward clarification of existing American law.” [H.R.] at 2487-88. The [H.R.] goes on to state: “The specific purpose of the Sherman Act modification is: to more clearly establish when antitrust liability attaches to international business activities.” Id. at 2492. It would be a serious departure from the goal of achieving clarity for us to conclude that Congress meant only “some substantial effect,” Hartford Fire, 509 U.S. at 796, 113 S.Ct. 2891, when it said “direct, substantial, and reasonably foreseeable effect.” Clarity is not achieved by employing three modifiers (“direct,” “substantial,” and “reasonably foreseeable”) as the standard for the required effect of the challenged conduct and then telling businesses that only one modifier ([e.g.,] “substantial”) is relevant to Sherman Act liability. [W]e [now] must consider what Congress meant by “direct.” A dictionary published contemporaneously with the enactment of the FTAIA defined “direct” as “proceeding from one point to another in time or space without deviation or interruption.” Webster’s Third New Int’l Dict. 640 (1982). Further, our efforts at understanding the meaning of “direct” are aided by the Supreme Court’s interpretation of a nearly identical term in the ... FSIA. The FSIA states that immunity does not extend to commercial conduct “outside the territory of the United States ... that [ ] causes a direct effect in the United States.” 28 U.S.C. § 1605(a)(2). After the lower federal courts struggled for years to define “direct effect,” the Supreme Court unanimously declared that an effect is “direct” if it follows as an immediate consequence of the defendant’s activity. [See ] Republic of Argentina v. Weltover, Inc., 504 U.S. 607, 618, 112 S.Ct. 2160, 119 L.Ed.2d 394 (1992). United States v. LSL Biotechnologies, 379 F.3d 672, 679 (9th Cir.2004). This Court finds the reasoning in Biotechnologies well founded and persuasive. Thus, Sherman Act claims (if they are based on defendants’ export practices but fail to state facts showing that these practices caused a direct, substantial, and reasonably foreseeable effect on United States commerce) effectively plead the plaintiff out of court or — to put it another way — in order to survive dismissal -under the FTAIA jurisdictional bar, the plaintiff must show that: (i) defendants’ export practices were “direct” (in the sense that defendants’ conduct actually caused such immediate consequence) with regard to United States domestic commerce, see id.; (ii) defendants’ conduct actually was “substantial” (in the sense that defendants’ conduct was actually “intended/consciously meant”) to produce a consequence in the United States; see Hartford Fire, 509 U.S. at 796 [113 S.Ct. 2891]; Alcoa, 148 F.2d at 444; (iii) that consequence was a foreseeable result of defendants’ action rather than a mere incidental occurrence. See id. Being mindful of the cumulative effect created by all three qualifiers of the FTAIA exception (fe., by the “direct, substantial, and reasonably foreseeable” elements, as they are read in light of guidance provided in Alcoa /Hartford Fire), the Court followed, in its December Opinion, the case law which — while addressing various “through out-the-world-with-the-United-States-included” foreign trade scenarios — found allegations asserting indiscriminating world-wide trade activities lacking focus on the United States commerce insufficient to invoke the FTAIA exception. See Docket Entry No. 73, at 28-34. Specifically, this Court: (i) relied on the observation made in Dee-K Enters. v. Heveafil Sdn. Bhd., 299 F.3d 281, 294-96 (4th Cir.2002), and Dee-K’s utilization of Hartford Fire, which noted that a court should consider whether the [defendants’] acts, targets, and effects ... are primarily foreign or primarily domestic. This inquiry will best accommodate the cases with mixed fact patterns, defying ready categorization as “foreign” or “domestic” conduct, which our increasingly global economy will undoubtedly produce. We cannot begin to foresee the scope or complexity of future transactions. To adopt simplistic rules ... might well yield unintended and unfortunate results.... We note that this approach echoes that of the Third Circuit in Carpet Group and finds support in several of the treatises ; and (ii) observed that the FTAIA plaintiff challenging foreign exportation practices must show that defendant-exporters’ conduct was, in some way, “focused” on the United States domestic market (since no defendant can unknowingly intend or mean to affect the American market), and a mere showing that defendants’ exportation practices indiscriminately targeted “a global market, [and the] links to the United States [were] mere drops in the sea of conduct that occurred... around the world” would fail to establish that the defendants’ activities resulted in the “direct, substantial and reasonably foreseeable effect” on the United States trade needed to remove the FTAIA jurisdictional bar. Docket Entry No. 73, at 33-34 (quoting Dee-K Enters., 299 F.3d at 295, which cited In re Uranium Antitrust Litig., 617 F.2d 1248, 1254 (7th Cir.1980), the case relying, in turn, on Alcoa). 2. Plaintiffs Fail to Provide Factual Proof Meeting the FTAIA Exception Seemingly relying on § 6a(l)(A), Plaintiffs summarize their factual proof as follows: Defendants’ conspiracy ha[d] “the purpose and effect of fixing prices of magnesite ... products exported to and purchased in the United States.” [Am. Compl.] ¶ 1. Defendants’ [trading activities] ha[d] “affected hundreds of millions of dollars of commerce in products that are used in American manufacturing facilities” and “severely burdened consumers in the United States.” Id. ¶ 3; see also [i ]& 1! 29.... Defendants’ ... pricing ha[d] directly affected U.S. commerce by increasing the price of Chinese magnesite purchased ... for use in the United States. [See Am. Compl.] ¶¶ 1, 51, 55, 65, 72 and 75. This effect has been substantial, leading to average overcharges of more than 21% on each sale of magnesite made ... during the four year period from 2004 to 2008. [See Am. Compl.] ¶ 65.... In 2007, Defendants and [entities associated with Defendants] had an 83% share of [a certain type of magnesite product that was exported from all over the world] to the United States and 87% share of [another type of magnesite product that was exported from all over the world] to the United States. [See ] id. ¶ 47. The value of the ... magnesite from China [that was brought to the United States] exceeded $160 million in 2008. [See ] id. ¶ 49. Accordingly, Defendants’ [trade] activities have affected ... U.S. commerce .... Opp. at 17-18. Each of the paragraphs cited in the Opposition, ie., Paragraphs 1, 3, 29, 47-51, 55, 65, 72 and 75 of the Amended Complaint, warrants an individual discussion. a. Paragraph One Paragraph One alleges as follows: This case arises out of a conspiracy among all Defendants and their [unspecified] co-conspirators that has the purpose and effect of fixing prices of magnesite and magnesite products exported to and purchased in the United States. Defendants have also committed other unlawful practices designed to inflate the prices of magnesite and magnesite products sold to Plaintiffs and other purchasers in the United States and elsewhere. Am. Compl. ¶ 1. This Paragraph provides the Court with no factual proof of any kind, preventing the Court from utilizing this Paragraph for its factual analysis, as defined in Turicentro. Moreover, being comprised of conclusory, self-serving sentences, this Paragraph fails to assert facts even in accordance with the lenient pleading requirements articulated in Twombly and Iqbal. Consequently, the content of this Paragraph will be disregarded for failure to support Plaintiffs’ position that the Court has jurisdiction to hear their claims under 15 U.S.C. § 6a(l)(A). b. Paragraph Three Paragraph Three asserts: The conspiracy has existed from at least April 2000 to date, and increased its effectiveness through new agreements to fix prices and limit supply entered in 2003. Defendants’ illegal cartel [at an unspecified stage of its existence and, hence, of unspecified composition] has deliberately targeted and severely burdened consumers in the United States. Th[is unspecified in its stage-of-existence and composition] cartel has affected hundreds of millions of dollars of commerce in products that are used in American manufacturing facilities and households. Id. ¶ 3. The three sentences comprising this Paragraph suffer of the deficiencies identical to those plaguing Paragraph One, ie., the statements made in Paragraph Three are not cognizable even for the purposes of facial review, as defined in Twombly and Iqbal. A fortiori these statements cannot qualify as factual proof for the purposes of factual review, as defined in Turicentro. Therefore, the content of Paragraph Three will similarly be disregarded by the Court without reaching the issue of whether this Paragraph could even be relevant to the “direct, substantial, and reasonably foreseeable” elements of the FTAIA exception stated in subsection (1)(A). c. Paragraph Twenty-Nine The following paragraph in Plaintiffs’ list, ie., Paragraph Twenty-Nine, states: Each of these Defendants and its [unspecified] co-conspirators has colluded with each other to restrain competition by, among other things, setting artificial prices pursuant to illegal horizontal agreements among these competitors. These horizontal practices were designed to, and in fact did, have a substantial and adverse impact in the United States. Id. ¶ 29. The shortcomings of this Paragraph are similar to those plaguing Paragraphs One and Three, discussed swpra, ie., Plaintiffs offer the Court not a single factual proof, but only a “fusion” of: (a) legal conclusions applicable to any garden-variety Sherman Act scenario; and (b) a FTAIA/Sherman Act element. Therefore, the Court will analogously disregard the factless content of this Paragraph without reaching the issue of whether it might even be relevant to the “direct, substantial, and reasonably foreseeable” elements of the FTAIA exception. d. Paragraph Forty-Seven The next paragraph referred to by Plaintiffs, that is, Paragraph Forty-Seven, alleges: During the period described in this [Amended] Complaint, the international market for magnesite and magnesite products was dominated by Defendants and their [unspecified] co-conspirators, including producers of magnesite and magnesite products and trading companies in China exporting magnesite and magnesite products. China is the most significant foreign supplier of magnesite to the United States with an 83 percent share of ... magnesite imports [in one type of magnesite product] and an 87 percent share of ... magnesia imports [in another type of magnesite product] in 2007. Id. ¶47. The Court gathers that this Paragraph aims to provide the Court with a showing that Defendants’ export activities fell within the meaning of the exception in subsection (1)(A). The Paragraph refers the Court, through footnote 5, to “2007 Yearbook Table 6,” that is, to a table in the document attached to the Amended Complaint as Plaintiffs’ Exhibit 4. The table, produced by the United States Census Bureau, shows that, in comparison with results of the year 2006, United States importation of Chinese magnesite-based products in the year 2007 slightly decreased in quantity and in value with regard to a certain magnesium oxide product but slightly increased in quantity and in value with regard to another magnesium oxide product. See Docket Entry No. 77-1, at 27; see also infra note 17 of this Opinion (explaining the distinction between crude magnesite and types of magnesium oxide). With regard to the first product, the table shows that United States import of this product was comprised of 85.4% (rather than 87% asserted by Plaintiffs) volume of goods of Chinese origin, and it’s relevant value was 74.1% of United States overall 2007 importation of that product. See id. With regard to the second product, the table shows 83.3% volume and 67.3% value as to the relevant United States importation in 2007. See id. The table — presenting, by definition, a snapshot of United States importation only in 2007 (and also verifying that Chinese magnesite products were the cheapest among all other goods of these types imported by the United States) — is entirely silent as to Defendants’ individual (or even collective) share, be it volume-wise and/or value-wise, thus leaving it to the Court’s imagination whether Defendants’ goods comprised the entire batch of Chinese magnesium oxide imported by the United States in 2007, or none of it, or any amount in between. See id. Since, without resolving this ambiguity, the Court cannot assess the validity of Plaintiffs’ claims made against Defendants (rather than against the entire Chinese magnesite industry), the Court examined the Amended Complaint for any statement that may shed light on the relation between individual Defendants and the entire Chinese industry producing magnesitebased goods. The detected statements in the Amended Complaint (that appear relevant to the Court’s inquiry) do not assist Plaintiffs’ position; on the contrary, they render Plaintiffs’ claims unwarranted. For instance, Paragraph Fifty-Four of the Amended Complaint states: “[t]he members of the two Jiyuan and Huaxia Magnesite Groups [ie., the two initial ‘sub-Cartels’] collectively represented more than 70 percent of the export volume of magnesite in China” during unspecified year(s). Am. Compl. ¶ 54. (Notably, Paragraph Fifty-Four does not provide the Court with any source of Plaintiffs’ conclusion as to this percentile, hence rendering it of no use for the purposes of factual analysis, as defined in Turicentro. The Court, however, ignores this shortcoming, for the purposes of this Opinion only, to address Plaintiffs’ claim as a whole.) If the Court were to entertain this 70% figure and, also, to take a leap of logic in Plaintiffs’ favor by presuming that the ever-changing “Cartel” and the sum of Jiyuan and Huaxia Magnesite “sub-Cartels” were, somehow, the same thing, but see supra note 13 of this Opinion (prompting a conclusion otherwise), Plaintiffs’ allegations would merely suggest that Defendants (perhaps, jointly with their specified and unspecified co-conspirators) had a 70 percent share of Chinese magnesite-based export. Further examining Plaintiffs’ Amended Complaint, the Court finds this 70% figure relevant to Plaintiffs’ claim that “[t]he United States consumes about 25 percent of China’s magnesite exports.” Id. ¶ 50. In support of that proposition, Plaintiffs rely on their Exhibit 2. See id. at 12, n. 7. However, Plaintiffs’ Exhibit 2 states: About 2.0 million metric tons of magnesium oxide were exported from China in 2006 .... In 2006, 590 thousand metric tons, 500 thousand metric tons, 300 thousand metric tons, and 640 thousand metric tons of magnesium oxide were exported from China to Japan, Europe, the United States, and Other Asia, respectively. Docket Entry No. 77-1, at 9. Read jointly with Exhibit 2, Plaintiffs’ Paragraph Forty-Seven stands for the propositions that the alleged “Cartel” a/k/a the sum of “Jiyuan and Huaxia Magnesite Groups” was the source of a mere 10.5% (ie., 70% of these 15%) of the Chineseorigined magnesium oxide destined for export, and that is only if the Court generously presumes a pro-rate spread of export destinations among all Chinese exporters (since a non-pro-rata hypothesis would allow to presume that no Defendants’ goods whatsoever — or mere droplets of Defendants’ export — ended in the United States, and that these 15% of all Chinese magnesium oxide that ended in the United States came from the 30% share of goods exported by Chinese entities that were not members of the alleged “Carter). This 10.5% figure cannot possibly be read as factual proof showing that Defendants intended/meant to affect United States commerce: if anything, it suggests that Defendants’ focus was domestic Chinese sale and exportation to countries other than the United States. Consequently, the content of Paragraph Forty-Seven (asserting the percentile of United States importation of Chinese-originated magnesite in 2007) fails to meet the requirements of factual review, as defined in Tuñcentro, and — even under the standard of facial review — fails to indicate that the Court has jurisdiction to hear Plaintiffs’ Sherman Act claims. If anything, this Paragraph merely verifies the interest of United States importers in buying Chinese magnesite-based products, perhaps because these products have consistently been the cheapest on the global market. e. Paragraph Forty-Eight The following paragraph, ie., Paragraph Forty-Eight, alleges as follows: During the period relevant to this Complaint, the conduct of Defendants and their [unspecified] co-conspirators has taken place in and affected the interstate commerce of the United States. Hundreds of thousands of metric tons of magnesite are imported into the United States each year from China. Data from the U.S. International Trade Commission confirms that imports from China into the U.S. of magnesite exceeded 500,000 metric tons in each year from 2000 to 2006. Am. Compl. ¶ 48. The Paragraph also includes the following table: Although the Amended Complaint provides the Court with no citation allowing the Court to verify the authenticity of the table, the Court presumes, for the purposes of this Opinion only, that the table is true and correct. Since the above-replicated table indicates that China was the origin of the lion’s share of magnesitebased products imported by the United States during the period from 2000 to 2006, the prices on Chinese-originated magnesite-based goods could have a “direct” effect on the prices charged in the United States. However, the table — providing, again, data only as to magnesite-based goods of Chinese origin imported by the United States — is wholly silent as to the share of magnesium oxide exported by Defendants, rather than by China as a country, same as the table sheds no light on Defendants’ domestic Chinese sales and export to countries other than the United States. See id. In other words, it appears that Plaintiffs invite the Court to equate all Chinese magnesite-based export with Defendants’ magnesium oxide export. This the Court cannot do, since Plaintiffs’ facts just as comfortably allow for an inference that Defendants’ share in Chinese exportation of magnesium oxide caused no effect whatsoever. Cf. Fowler, 578 F.3d at 210-11 (“[wjhere the well-pleaded facts do not permit the court to infer more than the mere possibility of misconduct, the complaint has alleged-but it has not ‘show[n]’‘that the pleader is entitled to relief ”) (quoting Iqbal, 129 S.Ct. at 1949-50). If Plaintiffs’ allegations fail even facial review, these allegations cannot operate as a proof for the purposes of the Court’s factual review, as it is defined in Turicentro. Consequently, the content of Paragraph Forty-Eight will be disregarded for failure to provide factual proof as to the Court’s subject matter jurisdiction over Plaintiffs’ claims. f. Paragraph Forty-Nine The next paragraph relied upon by Plaintiffs, i.e., Paragraph Forty-Nine, states as follows: The value of U.S. imports of magnesite and magnesite products from China exceeded $50 million in 2000 and exceeded $160 million in 2008. See id. ¶49 (referring the Court to footnote 6 which, in turn, directs the Court’s attention to: (a) a table in Plaintiffs’ Exhibit 5; and (b) a reference to a web page < <http://dataweb.usitc.gov/> >). The table included in Plaintiffs’ Exhibit 5 shows that, during the year 2000, various magnesite-based products of Chinese origin were imported by the United States in the amount of $553,116,000. See Docket Entry No. 77-1, at 37. The web reference to <<http://dataweb.usitc. gov>> brings the Court to the homepage of the United States International Trade Commission, where no drop-down menu, no direct link, no search directory and no advance search of terms “China Chinese Magnesite 2008” allowed the Court to locate a particular statement with regard to United States importation of Chinese magnesite-based products in 2000 or 2008; in other words, this piece of Plaintiffs’ “factual proof’ was effectively nothing but Plaintiffs’ directive to the Court to find evidence supporting Plaintiffs’claim. See <<http:// dataweb.usitc.gov>>. Such “proof,” by definition, fails to support Plaintiffs’ position: “[district judges have no obligation to act as counsel or paralegal [even] to pro se litigants,” Pliler v. Ford, 542 U.S. 225, 231-32, 124 S.Ct. 2441, 159 L.Ed.2d 338 (2004), and, a fortiori, have no obligation seek out evidence supporting the claims asserted by a represented litigant. However, the crucial error with Plaintiffs’ Paragraph Forty-Nine is not the dead-end result of Plaintiffs’ citations. Rather, the shortcomings of Plaintiffs’ statement and Exhibit 5 are substantively identical to those plaguing the above-discussed Paragraph Forty-Eight, ie., Plaintiffs try to equate the entire Chinese export of magnesite-based products with Defendants’ export of magnesium oxide. As explained in the preceding subsection of this Opinion, the Court declines Plaintiffs’ invitation to so equate since Plaintiffs’ data, even if true, fails to establish proof that Defendants were meaning/intending to affect United States commerce. Therefore, the Court will disregard the content of Paragraph Forty-Nine for failure to provide factual proof. g. Paragraph Fifty The following paragraph referred to by Plaintiffs, ie., Paragraph Fifty, asserts: The United States consumes about 25 percent of China’s magnesite exports. The steel industry in the United States is the primary consumer of magnesite products, with 390 thousand metric tons consumed by steel refractories in the United States during 2006. Cement refractories are the second leading consumer of magnesia in the United States. Am. Compl. ¶ 50 (referring the Court to footnotes 7 and 8, which — in turn — refer the Court to Plaintiffs’ Exhibit 2 already examined by the Court in the subsection “Paragraph Forty-Seven,” supra). The content of this Paragraph warrants little discussion, since the issue of which particular industry among United States industries is the leading — or second leading — consumer of magnesite-based products is wholly irrelevant to the subject matter jurisdictional inquiry at bar. That leaves the Court only with Plaintiffs’ erroneously calculated claim that the United States consumes 25% of Chinese magnesite. See supra note 16 of this Opinion (pointing out the error in Plaintiffs’ mathematics as to 25%, which should actually be 15%). As the Court already explained in its discussion of the shortcomings of Plaintiffs’ Paragraph Forty-Seven, this 15% reference lends no support to Plaintiffs’ claim that Defendants’ activities fall within the language of subsection (1)(A): Defendants’ export of, presumably, 10.5% of Defendants’ goods to the United States