U.S. Cracks Down On Steel Products Imported From China, Vietnam
The U.S. Department of Commerce announced on July 3 that it had made affirmative final determinations in the antidumping duty (AD) and countervailing duty (CVD) investigations of imports of certain steel wheels measuring 12 to 16.5 inches in diameter from China. The department found Chinese exporters have sold these products at less than fair value in the United States at rates of 38.27 to 44.35 percent.
The department also determined Chinese exporters received subsidies at rates from 386.45 to 388.31 percent. The U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) currently is scheduled to make its final injury determinations in this matter on or about August 15, 2019. If the ITC makes affirmative final injury determinations, the Commerce Department will issue AD and CVD orders. If the ITC makes negative final determinations of injury, the investigations will be terminated and no orders will be issued. U.S. imports of certain steel wheels 12 to 16.5 inches in diameter from China were valued at an estimated $73.8 million in 2017.
Click here to read the department’s fact sheet on this investigation.
As Bloomberg reported, the day before this ruling the Commerce Department announced its decision to impose levies of more than 400 percent on steel imports from Vietnam because it found some businesses had shipped products originally produced in South Korea and Taiwan through Vietnam in order to avoid anti-dumping and anti-subsidy duties put in place by the U.S. government. The new duties on these products will be imposed on future imports, and also on any unliquidated entries since August 2, 2018 (the date on which Commerce initiated these circumvention inquiries). The applicable cash deposit rates will be as high as 456.23 percent, depending on the origin of the substrate and the type of steel product exported to the United States.
Click here to learn more.
Dinh Tien Dung, Vietnam’s finance minister responded to the announcement by telling Reuters, “We will be determined in managing the situation, handling the violations and handling the breaches … We want to demonstrate to President Donald Trump that we are taking a serious attitude to this.” He declined to say whether Vietnam would consider retaliatory tariffs, adding “we first need to review (the situation).”