The US International Trade Commission (ITC) recently conducted hearings on the future of the Section 232 tariffs on steel and aluminum as well as on the Section 301 tariffs on imports from China. Congress mandated the ITC investigation in response to calls for the tariffs to be reduced or eliminated to fight inflation. Unlike the […]
At the request of US pipe and tube producers, the US Department of Commerce has begun inquiries into the alleged circumvention of antidumping and countervailing duties (AD/CVD) on a variety of products from a host of Asian countries. The request came from Atlas Tube Inc., Bull Moose Tube Co., Maruichi American Corp., Nucor Tubular Products […]
Additional antidumping and countervailing duty rates on imports of corrosion-resistant steel flat products have been updated by the US Department of Commerce. In the preliminary results of an administrative review looking at the period July 1, 2020, through June 30, 2021, Commerce updated the weighted-average dumping margins for three Taiwanese companies. Preliminary rates were set […]
The US Department of Commerce has issued the preliminary results of administrative reviews of the antidumping duties on corrosion-resistant steel flat products from China and South Korea, setting new import duty rates for the period July 1, 2020, through June 30, 2021. In China’s review, Metalco was the sole company subject to the review. Because […]
The US International Trade Commission is not afraid to air out dirty laundry. On August 3, the USITC ruled to maintain the existing antidumping duties on imports of large residential washing machines from China. The duties have been in place since 2016. Under the current order, a large residential washing machine is considered to be any […]
Two major pieces of legislation were in the news this week. On the merits, both are scaled back substantially from earlier versions. But they are still major initiatives. The first has gone to President Biden for his signature, which is certain. That is the Chips for America Act, legislation that will provide substantial subsidies to […]
Eyes glaze over when trade laws are discussed. Despite this, I think it useful to delve a bit into details on occasion. A couple of recent developments prompt me to do so this week. First, the US International Trade Commission (ITC) voted unanimously last week that material injury was not done to the domestic industry […]
The US International Trade Commission has completed five-year sunset reviews of import duties on cold-rolled steel flat products from six countries. While determining that the duties on imports from five of the countries should be continued, the ITC also decided to allow the duties on Brazilian product to expire. The ITC conducted full sunset reviews […]
President Biden visited the Middle East last week. He touched down at Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland early Sunday morning. Every presidential trip is and must be evaluated by what else is going on. This one was originally billed as routine: to attend a summit meeting of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), a group […]
US imports of corrosion-resistant steel products from five origins will continue to be subject to antidumping and countervailing duties for at least another five years. The US International Trade Commission concluded five-year sunset reviews of the duties on the imports from China, India, Italy, South Korea, and Taiwan, determining that allowing the duties to expire, […]
The buzz about the war in Ukraine has shifted. For the first three months of the conflict, Ukraine was hailed for a valiant struggle against a strong Russian foe. This valor is part of a larger struggle—the preservation of peace against the threat of violent conquest of weak nations by stronger ones. The stakes could […]
President Joe Biden has increased tariffs on some Russian and Belarussian steel, ferroalloys, and aluminum products to 35%, according to a presidential proclamation signed earlier this week and related documents. That’s a significant increase from already higher duties on some products that went into effect earlier this year when Russia and Belarus were stripped of […]
Tariffs on China have been controversial from the beginning. Passions run high, and it’s sometimes hard to find a middle ground on policy matters concerning China. The tariffs at issue are those imposed on Chinese goods under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974, as amended. Over the next few months, the Biden administration […]
The World Trade Organization just concluded its 12th Ministerial Conference since the launch of the ill-fated Doha Development Agenda in 2001. The conference stayed in session past its scheduled end, and it reached agreements that surprised many WTO observers. A lot of credit goes to WTO Director General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala of Nigeria, who kept the ministers […]
Antidumping and countervailing duty (“trade remedy”) cases provide a rare glimpse into tariffs on imported goods that entered the US before they were subject to these burdensome duties. In the opinion of some, retroactively applied tariffs are always unfair to importers and their downstream US customers. Others disagree, believing that they deter imports competing with […]
The Biden administration, picking up where the “America First” Trump administration left off, extols the virtues of increased production here at home. There are many advantages to this approach, the president says. Increased production in the US will diminish reliance on China in critical materials for electric vehicles (rare earth metals and lithium, for example). […]
The US Department of Commerce’s International Trade Administration is adjusting the antidumping duty margins on imports of carbon and alloy cut-to-length plate from South Korea. The agency is conducting an administrative review of the duties, evaluating the period May 1, 2020 through April 30, 2021, according to a Federal Register filing. POSCO is the only Korean […]
US President Joe Biden has officially implemented the tariff-rate quota (TRQ) to ease Section 232 restrictions on steel imports from the United Kingdom. Biden’s presidential proclamation, dated May 31, is clear that only steel melted and poured in the UK – up to 500,000 metric tons per year – is eligible to enter the US […]
The US will lift Section 232 tariffs from Ukrainian steel imports on Wednesday, June 1, at 12:01 a.m. Eastern Time, the White House said. The waiver from the national security duties will remain in place until at least 11:59 pm Eastern on June 1, 2023. “In light of the ongoing security discussions and significant disruption […]
The US Department of Commerce’s International Trade Administration has adjusted the antidumping duty margins on imports of hot-rolled steel flats from Japan after an administrative review covering the one-year period ended September 30, 2020. Commerce calculated a weighted-average dumping margin of 24.07% for mandatory respondents Nippon Steel Corp., Nippon Steel Nisshin Co., and Nippon Steel […]
Tariffs on China put in place under the Trump administration are under review now because Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974 requires it after four years. I thought it was surprising that President Biden continued the “China tariffs” after criticizing them during the 2020 presidential campaign. But it is not too surprising. The tariffs […]
Canada’s government has decided to continue antidumping duty orders on hot rolled sheet and strip from Brazil and China and a countervailing duty order on HR from India, while allowing the AD duty order on HR imports from Ukraine to expire. The Canadian International Trade Tribunal (CITT) issued its final ruling in the expiry review […]
International trade has become increasingly important to the US economy and national security over the last seven decades. But in recent years, we have lost our confidence in it. Donald Trump was the first post-World War II President to try to reduce the volume of international trade, principally by imposing tariff barriers on steel, aluminum, […]
The US Department of Commerce has made affirmative preliminary determinations in the trade case investigating the dumping of OCTG by Argentina, Mexico, and Russia. High dumping margins were set for most producers and exporters from the three countries, which could slow down OCTG imports further in an already undersupplied market. Critical circumstances were found to […]
At the request of the House and Senate Committees on Appropriations, the US International Trade Commission has begun an investigation into the economic impact of the Section 232 and 301 tariffs on US industry. The Commission is asking for detailed information on US trade, production, and prices in the industries that have been most affected […]
The US will for one year lift Section 232 tariffs from Ukrainian steel, the Commerce Department said. The move is necessary to support Ukraine in its war against Russia and because steel plays an outsized role in the Ukrainian economy, Commerce said in a press release on Monday, May 9. Case in point: Steel employs […]
We’ve gotten so used to thinking about issues as Democrat vs. Republican, us versus them, that it’s gotten hard for us to make progress even on issues that we generally agree on – like lowering carbon emissions. Renewable energy, and trade policy around renewables, are examples of an all-too-common problem facing the country: Interest groups […]
For the first four months of this year, the US and global economies have endured one shock after another. It’s hard to know what to expect whether you are running a business, regulating an industry, or feeding a family. This past week, the government announced that the US economy shrank in the first quarter at […]
This past week the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) issued a memorandum with details of the Buy America rules that apply to infrastructure projects governed by the infrastructure bill passed last year (the “Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act,” or “IIJA”). This week, I detail some of the changes and their impact on the number […]
President Biden on Friday signed two pieces of trade legislation that sailed through Congress: the “Ending Importation of Russian Oil Act” (HR 6968), which prohibits imports of oil, gas and other energy products from Russia, and “Suspending Normal Trade Relations with Russia and Belarus Act” (HR 7108), which imposes higher “Column 2” tariffs on imports […]