AD/CVD Petitions Filed Against Against Corrosion-Resistant Steel Imports

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Sep. 6, 2024
By: Hannah B. Kreinik

U.S. steel producers have petitioned the Commerce Department and International Trade Commission to impose antidumping and countervailing duties against corrosion-resistant steel products (“CORE”) from Australia, Brazil, Canada, Mexico, Taiwan, Türkiye, the Netherlands, United Arab Emirates (“UAE”), South Africa, and Vietnam. This petition joins the group of antidumping and countervailing (“AD/CVD”) cases against metal products (see here and here for other metal petitions).

The petition asks for tariffs against CORE products that are:

certain flat-rolled steel products, either clad, plated, or coated with corrosion-resistant metals such as zinc, aluminum, or zinc-, aluminum-, nickel- or iron-based alloys, whether or not corrugated or painted, varnished, laminated, or coated with plastics or other non-metallic substances in addition to the metallic coating. The products covered include coils that have a width of 12.7 mm or greater, regardless of form of coil (e.g., in successively superimposed layers, spirally oscillating, etc.). The products covered also include products not in coils (e.g., in straight lengths) of a thickness less than 4.75 mm and a width that is 12.7 mm or greater and that measures at least 10 times the thickness. The products covered also include products not in coils (e.g., in straight lengths) of a thickness of 4.75 mm or more and a width exceeding 150 mm and measuring at least twice the thickness. The products described above may be rectangular, square, circular, or other shape and include products of either rectangular or non-rectangular cross-section where such crosssection is achieved subsequent to the rolling process, i.e., products which have been ‘‘worked after rolling’’ (e.g., products which have been beveled or rounded at the edges).

For purposes of the width and thickness requirements referenced above:

(1) Where the nominal and actual measurements vary, a product is within the scope if application of either the nominal or actual measurement would place it within the scope based on the definitions set forth above, and

(2) where the width and thickness vary for a specific product (e.g., the thickness of certain products with non-rectangular cross-section, the width of certain products with non-rectangular shape, etc.), the measurement at its greatest width or thickness applies.

 Steel products included in the scope of these investigations are products in which:

(1) iron predominates, by weight, over each of the other contained elements; and (2) the carbon content is 2 percent or less, by weight. Subject merchandise also includes corrosion-resistant steel that has been further processed in a third country, including but not limited to annealing, tempering, painting, varnishing, trimming, cutting, punching and/or slitting or any other

processing that would not otherwise remove the merchandise from the scope of the investigations if performed in the country of manufacture of the in-scope corrosion resistant steel.

All products that meet the written physical description are within the scope of these investigations unless specifically excluded.

The following products are outside of and/or specifically excluded from the scope of these investigations:

Flat-rolled steel products either plated or coated with tin, lead, chromium, chromium oxides, both tin and lead (“terne plate”) or both chromium and chromium oxides (“tin free steel”), whether or not painted, varnished or coated with plastics or other non-metallic substances in addition to the

metallic coating;

Clad products in straight lengths of 4.7625 mm or more in composite thickness and of a width which exceeds 150 mm and measures at least twice the thickness;

Certain clad stainless flat-rolled products, which are three-layered corrosion-resistant carbon steel flat-rolled products less than 4.75 mm in composite thickness that consist of a carbon steel flat-rolled product clad on both sides with stainless steel in a 20%-60%-20% ratio; and

Also excluded from the scope of the antidumping duty investigation on corrosion resistant steel from Taiwan are any products covered by the existing antidumping duty order on corrosion-resistant steel from Taiwan.

The petition requests antidumping duties against imports of CORE from Australia, Canada, Brazil, the Netherlands, Türkiye, Mexico, South Africa, Taiwan, Vietnam, and UAE, as well as CVD duties on imports of CORE from Mexico, Vietnam, Brazil, and Canada. The alleged antidumping duty margins for each country are:

Australia 48.42%
Brazil 75.70%
Canada 35%
Mexico 34.16%
Netherlands 15.60%
South Africa 51.99%
Taiwan 67.90%
Türkiye 16.39%
United Arab Emirates 77.68%
Vietnam 158.83%

The Commerce Department’s International Trade Administration will have 20 days to decide whether to launch an investigation and the ITC will issue the preliminary determinations within 45 days of the investigation initiation.

If your company has concerns about the scope of the case or managing imports during the course of the investigations, do not hesitate to contact any attorney at Barnes, Richardson & Colburn.