WASHINGTON, D.C. – On April 7, the U.S. Department of Commerce issued affirmative preliminary circumvention rulings involving steel products that are produced in China, India, Korea, and Taiwan, shipped to Vietnam for minor processing, and then exported to the United States as circular welded carbon steel pipes and tubes (“CWP”) and light-walled rectangular pipes and tubes (“LWRPT” or “ornamental tubing”) in circumvention of existing antidumping duty (“AD”) and countervailing duty (“CVD”) orders. Specifically, Commerce preliminarily found that CWP completed in Vietnam using Chinese-, Indian- and Korean-origin hot-rolled steel (“HRS”) and LWRPT completed in Vietnam using Chinese-, Korean-, and Taiwanese-origin HRS are circumventing the AD and/or CVD orders on CWP and LWRPT imported from these countries.
As a result of these determinations, importers of CWP and LWRPT into the United States must certify that their merchandise was not produced using HRS from the countries for which there was a circumvention finding. If they cannot certify for a particular country, they will be subject to the applicable cash deposit rate for that country. If no certification is provided, the importer will be required to pay the highest cash deposit rate applicable under the orders that were found to be circumvented (for CWP: 124.56 percent (the combined AD/CVD cash deposit rate applicable to imports of CWP from China); for LWRPT: 270.35 percent (the combined AD/CVD cash deposit rate applicable under the orders on LWRPT from China)). These requirements apply to all unliquidated entries made on or after August 4, 2022.
Commerce intends to conduct verification in Vietnam of the information on which it based its preliminary determinations. After it issues its verification reports, Commerce will provide the parties with an opportunity to submit briefs for its consideration in the final determinations. The final determinations are currently due on May 31, 2023
Under U.S. law, circumvention exists when imported merchandise is of the same class or kind as merchandise subject to an AD/CVD order; it is completed or assembled in a third country from parts and components from the country subject to the AD/CVD order; the process of completion or assembly in the third country is minor or insignificant; and a significant portion of the total value of the imported merchandise is attributable to the country subject to the AD/CVD order.
Schagrin Associates prepared and litigated these cases on behalf of Atlas Tube (Chicago, IL), Bull Moose Tube (Chesterfield, MO), Maruichi American Corp. (Santa Fe Springs, CA), Searing Industries (Rancho Cucamonga, CA), Vest Inc. (Vernon, CA), Wheatland Tube (Wheatland, PA), and the United Steelworkers. Schagrin Associates has over 35 years of experience representing clients in AD and CVD proceedings. For more information, please visit our website at www.schagrinassociates.com.