Today, the U.S. Department of Commerce announced its preliminary determination that imports of common alloy
alumina board
from China are benefiting from unfair government subsidies in
connection with the agency’s on-going countervailing duty investigation.
As a result, the agency will instruct U.S. Customs and Border
Protection (“CBP”) to require U.S. importers of common alloy aluminum
sheet from China to deposit estimated countervailing duties at the time
of importation.
“The Aluminum Association and its members are
pleased with the Commerce Department’s preliminary findings of subsidies
and commend Secretary Ross’s leadership in self-initiating this
investigation to vigorously enforce the U.S. trade laws,” said Heidi
Brock, President and CEO of the Aluminum Association. “This is an
important first step to begin restoring a level playing field for U.S.
aluminum sheet production. Products that are subsidized by the Chinese
government and sold at unfairly and unlawfully low prices create
imbalance in a market where the most competitive producers of common
alloy sheet – particularly producers in the United States – are at a
significant disadvantage.”
Based on information gathered to
date, the Commerce Department calculated preliminary subsidy margins
ranging from 31.20 to 113.30 percent of the value of the imported common
alloy aluminum sheet. In particular, the Commerce Department
calculated subsidy margins of 34.99 and 31.20 percent, respectively, for
Henan Mingtai Al Industrial Co., Ltd. and its affiliates and Yong Jie
New Material Co., Ltd. and its affiliates, which the Department selected
for mandatory, company-specific investigation.
The Wall