Commerce: Sizable Chinese pipe subsidies will continue if US duties expire

A notice in the Federal Register on Monday said Commerce found that revoking or sunsetting the CVD order “would be likely to lead to the continuation or recurrence of countervailable subsidies at the levels” shown in the chart below.

Background

Trade laws require that unfair trade remedies like anti-dumping duties and CVDs are reviewed every five years.

In the US, Commerce’s International Trade Administration (ITA) and the independent International Trade Commission (ITC) are tasked with this responsibility.

Considering if the duties were allowed to expire or be ‘sunset,’ the ITA determines if the subsidies or duties would reoccur, and the ITC determines if the domestic industry would continue to be injured.

Commerce initiated this sunset review in May. The case was expedited as responses from respondent interested parties were deemed inadequate, while domestic interested parties provided timely notices of their intent to participate.

Those companies include Bull Moose Tube, Maruichi American Corp., Nucor Tubular Products, and Zekelman Industries, all of which are domestic producers of standard and/or structural pipe.

The ITC voted in early August to expedite its sunset review and should have it completed by the end of September. Although one commissioner voted for a full review, two others opted for expedited reviews. One commissioner did not participate in the vote.

This is the third sunset review of this particular CVD order. The duties were initially applied in 2008.