Today, the U.S. Department of Commerce announced the initiation of new antidumping duty (AD) and countervailing duty (CVD) investigations to determine whether forged steel fluid end blocks from Germany, India, and Italy are being dumped in the United States, and to find if producers in China, Germany, India, and Italy are receiving unfair subsidies.

These antidumping and countervailing duty investigations were initiated based on petitions filed by the FEB Fair Trade Coalition (Cleveland, OH); Ellwood City Forge Company, Ellwood Quality Steels Company, and Ellwood National Steel Company (Ellwood City, PA); and A. Finkl & Sons (Chicago, IL).

The alleged dumping margins are 83.37 percent for Germany, 198.85 percent for India, and 87.04 percent for Italy.

There are 24 subsidy programs alleged for China, 16 subsidy programs alleged for Germany, 29 subsidy programs alleged for India, and 20 subsidy programs alleged for Italy.

If Commerce makes affirmative findings in these investigations, and if the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) determines that dumped and/or unfairly subsidized U.S. imports of forged steel fluid end blocks from China, Germany, India, and Italy are causing injury to the U.S. industry, Commerce will impose duties on those imports in the amount of dumping and/or unfair subsidization found to exist.

The petitioners estimated that imports of forged steel fluid end blocks China, Germany, India, and Italy were valued at approximately $17.8 million, $23.3 million, $44.4 million, and $46.4 million, respectively, in 2018.

Click HERE for a fact sheet on these initiations.

Next Steps:

During Commerce’s investigations into whether forged steel fluid end blocks from China, Germany, India, and Italy are being dumped and/or unfairly subsidized, the ITC will conduct its own investigations into whether the U.S. industry and its workforce are being harmed by such imports. The ITC will make its preliminary determinations on or before February 3, 2020. If the ITC preliminarily determines that there is injury or threat of injury, then Commerce’s investigations will continue, with the preliminary CVD determinations scheduled for March 13, 2020, and preliminary AD determinations scheduled for May 27, 2020, unless these deadlines are extended.

If Commerce preliminarily determines that dumping and/or unfair subsidization is occurring, then it will instruct U.S. Customs and Border Protection to start collecting cash deposits from all U.S. companies importing forged steel fluid end blocks from China, Germany, India, and Italy.

Final determinations by Commerce in these cases are scheduled for May 27, 2020, for the CVD investigations, and August 10, 2020, for the AD investigations, but these dates may be extended. If Commerce finds that products are not being dumped or unfairly subsidized, or the ITC finds in its final determinations that there is no injury to the U.S. industry, then the investigations will be terminated and no duties will be applied.

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 195 new antidumping and countervailing duty investigations – a 200 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 515 antidumping and countervailing duty orders which provide relief to American companies and industries impacted by unfair trade.

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 rules and is based on factual evidence provided on the record.

Foreign companies that price their products in the U.S. market below the cost of production or below prices in their home markets are subject to antidumping duties. Companies that receive unfair subsidies from their governments, such as grants, loans, equity infusions, tax breaks, or production inputs, are subject to countervailing duties aimed at directly countering those subsidies.