Editors note: the department of commerce is becoming very aggressive with self initiating trade enforcement cases. Wilbur Ross is doing a good job, unlike his immediate predecessors.
The Commerce Department on Wednesday announced affirmative final determinations against imports of Chinese aluminum sheet, advancing antidumping and countervailing duty investigations that were self-initiated by the agency last November.
[Isabelle Hoagland | November 6, 2018 | Inside US Trade]
Commerce found that Chinese exporters dumped common alloy aluminum sheet into the U.S. at rates ranging from 49.85 to 59.72 percent below fair value. The department also found that China was providing countervailable subsidies to certain aluminum producers at rates ranging from 46.48 to 116.49 percent, according to a Nov. 7 statement.
The probes marked the first investigations self-initiated by the department on behalf of an industry in roughly 30 years. Imports of common alloy aluminum sheet from China amounted to roughly $897.9 million in 2017.
“President Trump has been clear in the need for drastic action to defend American workers and businesses from unfair trade practices,” Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said in the statement. “The Department of Commerce has answered this call — we will continue to do everything in our power under U.S. law to restrict the flow of dumped or subsidized goods into U.S. markets.”
After the final affirmative AD determination is published, “Commerce will instruct U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to collect AD cash deposits equal to the applicable final weighted average dumping rates,” according to a Nov. 7 fact sheet. “Further, as a result of the affirmative final CVD determination, if the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) makes an affirmative injury determination, Commerce will instruct CBP to collect CVD cash deposits equal to the applicable subsidy rates.”
