Wiley Rein assists ITC in granting trade relief on Chinese aluminium extrusion

Wiley Rein LLP assisted in convincing the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) to grant relief from imports of dumped and subsidised aluminium extrusions from China on behalf of U.S. makers of aluminium extrusions.

Following a mandated five-year "sunset review" including these items, the ITC reached its unanimous conclusion. The Commission assesses whether the cancellation of antidumping (AD) and/or countervailing duty (CVD) orders will likely result in the continuing or recurrence of significant harm to the domestic industry during such assessments.

The ITC concluded following an examination that rescinding the current AD and CVD restrictions on imports of aluminium extrusions from China would probably result in the continuing or recurrence of material harm to the U.S. aluminium extrusion sector. As a result of this decision, the current import taxes on certain Chinese goods will stand for at least five years.

The U.S. Department of Commerce ("the Department") found that Chinese aluminium extrusions were being illegally subsidised at rates ranging from 16.08 per cent to 242.56 per cent in the most recent CVD administrative review of the now-extended order. A dumping rate of 86.01 per cent was applied to the 85 Chinese extruders under evaluation as part of the "China-wide entity" in the concurrent AD administrative review after the Department found that none qualified for a different rate.

“The ITC’s affirmative determination in this sunset review is critical to maintaining the continued viability of the domestic industry. This decision allows the U.S. aluminum extrusion industry to compete on a level playing field with China and benefit from the relief provided by the antidumping and countervailing duty orders. We look forward to working with the domestic industry and the government to enforce these orders against those who have continually sought ways to evade them,” said Robert E. DeFrancesco, III, a partner in Wiley’s International Trade Practice who represents the Aluminum Extruders Council (AEC) and the Aluminum Extrusions Fair Trade Committee (AEFTC).

With the directives in place, the AEC and AEFTC will keep an eye out for any indications of the severely prohibited practises of duty absorption, circumvention, and evasion by foreign manufacturers and imports.

Wiley's track record of successfully resolving significant, intricate, and well-publicized antidumping and countervailing duty disputes has the biggest domestically focused international trade practice in the United States. Wiley, a renowned petitioner company, files trade claims on behalf of American businesses and sectors whose survival is at risk from unfair trade practices by foreign rivals.