On January 18, 2022, domestic manufacturers filed a petition with the US Department of Commerce (DOC) and the US International Trade Commission (ITC) to impose an anti-dumping (AD) tax on South Korea, Taiwan, Turkey and the United Kingdom, and to impose countervailing duties (CVD) on the import of such goods from China. There is currently an anti-dumping order on the import of the same product from Japan, which has been in effect for more than 20 years.
Imports of covered goods from these countries into the United States in calendar year 2021 totaled approximately $1.4 billion, rising to $1.9 billion between January 2022 and September 2022. So the trade value covered by these petitions could make this one of the largest combined AD/CVD investigations launched in the last few years.
Applicants include Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. and United Metals, Paper, Timber, Rubber, Manufacturing, Energy International, United Industrial and Service Workers (USW). According to the petition, Cleveland-Cliffs is the local tinplate manufacturer in West Virginia, and USW represents workers in all major tinplate factories. The petition mentions two other domestic tinsmiths—US Steel and Ohio Paint—neither of whom has taken a public position on the petition.
Under U.S. law, a domestic industry (including workers in that industry) may petition the government to initiate an anti-dumping investigation into the pricing of imported products to determine whether those products are being sold in the U.S. at a price below fair (i.e. “Domestic”). industry as well. An investigation may be requested into alleged countervailing subsidies granted by a foreign government to a producer of a covered product. Determines that domestic industry has suffered material damage or injury as a result of the importation of the product. If there is no threat of such damage, the DOC will impose anti-dumping or countervailing duties on the product.
If the ITC and DOC issue a positive initial decision, US importers will be required to pay a cash deposit in the amount of anti-dumping duties and/or countervailing duties on all imports of eligible goods imported on or after the publication date of the DOC. initial resolve. Preliminary AD/CVD scores may change in the final DOC after further fact-finding, review and coaching.
The Applicant requests the following scope of investigation, which reflects the current wording of the scope of orders for certain tinplate items from Japan:
The products in these studies are tin-plated flat products clad with tin, chromium or chromium oxide. Sheet steel coated with tin is called tinplate. Flat-rolled products coated with chromium or chromium oxide are called tin-free or electrolytically chromium-plated steel. The scope includes all tinplate products mentioned, regardless of thickness, width, shape (coil or sheet), coating type (electrolytic or other), edge (cut, uncut or with additional processing, such as serrated), coating thickness, surface finish. , hardened, coated metal (tin, chromium, chromium oxide), crimped (single or double crimped) and plastic coated.
All products conforming to a written physical description are within the scope of the study unless they are specifically excluded. . . . .
Goods affected by these investigations are currently classified under the United States Harmonized Tariff Schedule (HTSUS) under subheadings HTSUS 7210.11.0000, 7212.50.0000, and in the case of alloy steels 7225.99.0090 and 7226.99.0180 under subheadings HTSUS. While subheadings are provided for convenience and customs purposes, a written description of the scope of the investigation is critical.
The scope also includes a detailed description of some products that were not included in the scope of the study or were explicitly excluded from it.
Annex 1 contains a list of foreign manufacturers and exporters of the tin products mentioned in the petition.
Appendix 2 lists US tinplate importers named in the petition.
The DOC routinely levies these so-called dumping rates on exporters who do not cooperate with the investigation.
The United States imported a total of 1.3 million short tons of goods in 2021, according to official U.S. import statistics, with Germany and the Netherlands accounting for the two largest shares of these goods. In 2021, imports from all of these countries accounted for nearly 90% of all tinplate products imported by the United States.
In 2021, the value of key commodities imported from these seven countries will be approximately US$1.4 billion. As noted above, this value increases to almost $1.9 billion in the partial year from January 2022 to September 2022.
Given these significant volumes and costs, these applications have more potential trading impact than many AD/CVD applications filed in recent years.
Disclaimer: Due to the general nature of this update, the information provided here may not apply in all situations, and should not be acted upon without specific legal advice based on your particular situation.
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Post time: Feb-21-2023