The U.S. Department of Commerce announced the affirmative final determinations in the antidumping duty (AD) and countervailing duty (CVD) investigations of imports of steel racks and parts thereof from China, finding that exporters from China have sold steel racks and parts at less than fair value in the United States at rates from 18.06 to 144.50 percent. In addition, Commerce determined that exporters from China received countervailable subsidies at rates from 1.50 to 102.23 percent.
In 2017, imports of steel racks from China were valued at an estimated $200 million.
The petitioner is the Coalition for Fair Rack Imports, whose members are Bulldog Rack Company (West Virginia), Hannibal Industries, Inc. (California), Husky Rack and Wire (North Carolina), Ridg-U-Rak, Inc. (Pennsylvania), SpaceRak (Michigan), Speedrack Products Group, Ltd. (Michigan), Steel King Industries, Inc. (Wisconsin), Tri-Boro Shelving & Partition Corp. (Virginia) and UNARCO Material Handling, Inc. (Tennessee).
The strict enforcement of U.S. trade law is a primary focus of the Trump Administration. Since the beginning of the current Administration, Commerce has initiated 172 new antidumping and countervailing duty investigations – this is a 219 percent increase from the comparable period in the previous administration.
Antidumping and countervailing duty laws provide American businesses and workers with an internationally accepted mechanism to seek relief from the harmful effects of the unfair pricing of imports into the United States. Commerce currently maintains 491 antidumping and countervailing duty orders which provide relief to American companies and industries impacted by unfair trade.
The U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) is currently scheduled to make its final injury determinations on or about September 3, 2019. If the ITC makes affirmative final injury determinations, Commerce will issue AD and CVD orders. If the ITC makes negative final determinations of injury, the investigations will be terminated and no orders will be issued.
The U.S. Department of Commerce’s Enforcement and Compliance unit within the International Trade Administration is responsible for vigorously enforcing U.S. trade law and does so through an impartial, transparent process that abides by international law and is based on factual evidence provided on the record.
Published in the August 2019 Edition