Trade Cases

Canada Assigns Duties to Chinese Steel Line Pipe
Written by Brett Linton
December 1, 2015
It will soon be more expensive to export Chinese steel line pipe to Canada.
Canada Border Services Agency released its preliminary determination on dumping and subsidization of steel line pipe exported from China and assigned provisional duties ranging from 71 percent to 396 percent. CBSA estimates that in 2014, 48.8 percent of carbon and alloy steel pipe imports to Canada were from China. That share increased to 55.9 percent from July 2014 to June 2015.
The chart below lists provisional duties. The reasoning behind the determination will be released by CBSA within 15 days.
EVRAZ North America, one of the complainants in the case against China, said it was pleased with the CBSA findings.
“We applaud the Government of Canada and the CBSA for their diligent analysis and decisions, which will positively impact the Canadian job market while sending a message that illegal dumping and foreign government subsidization will be met with strong action by the Canadian government,” said Conrad Winkler, President and CEO of EVRAZ North America. “We actively compete globally with line pipe manufacturers, but foreign companies should not be allowed to dump their product while we reduce Canadian employment to save their subsidized jobs.”
“China is the definition of a non-market economy, exporting product at prices below its own home market to support its steel industry even as its own internal steel consumption continues to decline,” stated Winkler. “This decision underscores the need for strong trade remedy laws and regulations.”
EVRAZ NA Canada operates electric resistance weld (ERW) and submerged arc weld (SAW) line pipe manufacturing facilities in Regina, Saskatchewan, and in Red Deer, Alberta. The EVRAZ North America group of companies also owns Canadian National Steel Corporation, which operates ERW and SAW line pipe manufacturing facilities in Camrose, Alberta.
Tenaris Global Services (Canada) Inc., also a complainant in the case, is the commercial agent for Tenaris’ sales in Canada. Tenaris produces pipe for the Canadian oil and gas market at its Algoma Tubes Inc. (ATI) facility in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario using the seamless process and at its Prudential Steel Inc. (PSI) facility in Calgary using the electric resistance welded (ERW) process. The company has a manufacturing capacity of 650,000 tons of seamless and ERW pipe.
“Trade cases in Canada are intended to restore fair market based prices and market based competition,” said a spokesperson for Tenaris. “These decisions are critical to the continued development of domestic manufacturing for oil and gas.”

Brett Linton
Read more from Brett LintonLatest in Trade Cases

Leibowitz on trade: Trump’s reciprocal tariffs face mounting legal challenges
The tariffs amount to a wholesale transformation of US trade policy from one promoting increasing international interaction to one of restricting trade to serve national strategic goals.

Steel groups voice different takes on US-EU trade deal
US and European steel trade groups were at odds over their reaction to the recent trade deal President Trump brokered with the EU.

Here’s what’s up next in the big coated steel trade case
Attorneys representing domestic petitioners and foreign respondent companies have been busy filing case briefings and making rebuttals as the corrosion-resistant steel unfair trade investigations begin to wind down.

Price: Which countries get a ‘zonk’ in Trump’s primetime ‘Let’s Make a (Trade) Deal’ show?
As the president’s August 1 tariff deadline approaches, the “Let’s Make a Deal” game show returns to primetime (the Monty Hall version, of course). As the administration begins rolling out trade deals, we are starting to see what’s behind door number one and who is getting a “zonk.”

Trump says Canada deal might not happen: Report
President Trump said a negotiated deal with Canada might not occur, and all existing tariffs, along with those set to take effect soon, will stay in place, according to media reports.