International Trade Today is providing readers with the top stories from last week in case they were missed. All articles can be found by searching on the titles or by clicking on the hyperlinked reference number.
Former President Donald Trump defended his proposal to increase tariffs on all imports by 10% (see 2308290005), saying it would incentivize American and foreign companies to build factories in the U.S. instead of other countries.
The Commerce Department published notices in the Federal Register March 11 on the following AD/CV duty proceedings (any notices that announce changes to AD/CV duty rates, scope, affected firms or effective dates will be detailed in another ITT article):
The Commerce Department issued a correction to a recent notice expanding its ongoing antidumping and countervailing duty administrative reviews on quartz surface products from China (A-570-084/C-570-085). The AD review will cover entries Nov. 4, 2021, through June 30, 2023, Commerce said. Likewise, the CVD review, which covered entries in calendar year 2022, will now cover entries Nov. 4, 2021, through Dec. 31, 2022, Commerce said, correcting the start dates for the AD/CVD periods of review. The expanded review periods will allow Commerce to consider entries of quartz surface products from Malaysia made from Chinese quartz slab that the agency found are covered by the scope of the AD/CVD orders, Commerce said in the original notice (see 2402230073). The 2022 scope ruling applies to entries on or after Nov. 4, 2021 (see 2210240036).
The Commerce Department is again amending the final results of a countervailing duty administrative review on crystalline silicon photovoltaic cells from China (C-570-980), covering entries during the calendar year 2019 review period. It said its revision to the countervailable subsidy rates assigned to JA Solar Technology Yangzhou Co., Ltd. (JA Solar) and Risen Energy Co., Ltd. (Risen) is due to a recent Court of International Trade judgment that affected the way it calculated the rate.
The Commerce Department issued a final affirmative determination that imports of steel cylinders with water capacities between 100 and 299 cubic inches are circumventing antidumping and countervailing duties on non-refillable steel cylinders from China (A-570-126/C-570-127), according to an agency notice released March 11. Suspension of liquidation and cash deposit requirements will remain in effect for entries on or after June 1, 2023, Commerce said. The agency found that the smaller steel cylinders covered by the anti-circumvention inquiry are “altered in form or appearance in such minor respects" from merchandise covered under the written scope of the AD/CVD orders, which had previously been limited to steel cylinders 300 cubic inches or larger, "that they should be included within the scope of the Orders."
A listing of recent Commerce Department antidumping and countervailing duty messages posted on CBP's website March 8, along with the case number(s) and CBP message number, is provided below. The messages are available by searching for the listed CBP message number at CBP's ADCVD Search page.
CBP released updated information on a dashboard with data and statistics about Enforce and Protect Act (EAPA) investigations from when the EAPA was implemented in FY 2016 to FY 2024 on March 11. The webpage categorizes investigations by possible country of origin, country of transshipment, and primary evasion scheme.
International Trade Commissioners grappled with how they should fulfill the administration's request for a report on the export competitiveness of the Bangladeshi, Indian, Cambodian, Indonesian and Pakistani apparel sectors over the last 11 years -- is it to uncover how those countries' successes could offer lessons to other developing countries that want to industrialize? Is the success of Bangladesh, which is near to crossing the threshold into a middle-income country largely on the strength of its garment sector, a country with an "unnatural and unfair advantage," because of its suppression of unions and wages, as the AFL-CIO's Eric Gottwald asserted?
The Commerce Department published notices in the Federal Register March 8 on the following AD/CV duty proceedings (any notices that announce changes to AD/CV duty rates, scope, affected firms or effective dates will be detailed in another ITT article):