Government/Policy
September 6, 2024
Coated trade case alleges hefty dumping margins
Written by Laura Miller
Domestic mills have alleged substantial dumping margins in the trade case targeting imports of corrosion-resistant flat-rolled steel.
The case’s petitioners, Steel Dynamics Inc. (SDI), Nucor, U.S. Steel, Wheeling-Nippon Steel, and the United Steelworkers (USW) union, filed the case on Sept. 5.
The case asserts that Canada, Mexico, Brazil, the Netherlands, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, Vietnam, Taiwan, Australia, and South Africa have been dumping coated flat-rolled steel in the US at prices below market value.
The table below shows the dumping margins alleged in the petition reviewed by SMU.
| Country | Min. | Max. | Average |
|---|---|---|---|
| Australia | 45.5% | 51.35% | 48.42% |
| Brazil | 47.0% | 99.5% | 75.7% |
| Canada | 19.1% | 51.3% | 35.0% |
| Mexico | 26.67% | 41.08% | 34.16% |
| Netherlands | 12.8% | 20.6% | 15.6% |
| South Africa | 51.96% | 52.02% | 51.99% |
| Taiwan | – | – | 67.9% |
| Turkey | 9.4% | 24.47% | 16.39% |
| UAE | 76.96% | 78.41% | 77.68% |
| Vietnam | – | – | 158.83% |
The trade case petition also argues that producers in Canada, Mexico, Brazil, and Vietnam have benefited from government subsidies.
Veteran trade attorney Roger Schagrin of Schagrin Associates and lead counsel for SDI and the USW told SMU, “While dumping cases require margin allegations, subsidy cases don’t.”
Subsidy cases “must contain evidence of the programs and use of the programs by foreign producers,” he said.
Petitioners believe they have laid out the evidence of those programs in their 9,000+ page case filing.
The Department of Commerce is tasked with determining the exact amounts of subsidies received during the period of investigation and then establishing the countervailable duty (CVD) rates.
The International Trade Commission (ITC) has scheduled a case hearing for Sept. 26 and its preliminary injury determination vote for Oct. 18.
Editor’s note: This story has been updated to reflect Mr. Schagrin’s position as lead counsel for two of the domestic petitioners, but not all.
