US starts duty investigations regarding tin mill products

In brief

The US Department of Commerce’s International Trade Administration (ITA) on February 8 announced the initiation of antidumping duty (AD) investigations of tin mill products from Canada, China, Germany, South Korea, the Netherlands, Taiwan, Turkey, and the United Kingdom. On February 14, ITA announced the initiation of a countervailing duty (CVD) investigation of tin mill products from China. The effective date of all of the investigations is February 7, 2023.

The announcements follow Commerce’s receipt of AD petitions concerning imports of tin mill products from those countries filed by a domestic producer of tin mill products and a certified union that represents the workers engaged in the production of tin mill products in the United States (collectively, the petitioners). The AD petitions were accompanied by a CVD petition concerning imports of tin mill products from China.

Action item: Companies importing tin mill products from any of the named countries should review the allegations made by the petitioners and determine the potential impact of adverse findings.

Actions by Commerce

Commerce assessed the allegations and supporting evidence regarding material injury, threat of material injury, and causation, as well as negligibility, and determined that these allegations are properly supported by adequate evidence and meet the statutory requirements for initiation of an investigation.

The February 8 announcement contains a detailed description of the allegations of sales at LTFV upon which Commerce based its decision to initiate AD investigations of imports of tin mill products from the named countries.

Based on the data provided by the petitioners, Commerce determined there is reason to believe that imports of tin mill products from the named countries are being, or are likely to be, sold in the United States at LTFV. Based on its examination of the petitions and supplemental responses, Commerce found that they meet the requirements of section 732 of the Act. Therefore, Commerce initiated AD investigations to determine whether imports of tin mill products from the named countries are being, or are likely to be, sold in the United States at LTFV. 

Timeline

In accordance with the provisions of the Act, Commerce will make its preliminary determinations no later than 140 days after the date of initiation of the investigations (June 30, 2023). 

CVD investigation

Petitioners’ allegations

In accordance with section 702(b)(1) of the Act, the petitioners allege that the Chinese government is providing countervailable subsidies, within the meaning of sections 701 and 771(5) of the Act, to producers of tin mill products in China and that such imports are materially injuring, or threatening material injury to, the US tin mill industry. The petitioners allege that imports of the subject merchandise are benefitting from countervailable subsidies and that such imports are causing, or threaten to cause, material injury to the US tin mill industry

The petitioners contend that the US tin mill industry's injured condition is illustrated by the significant volume of subject imports; declining market share; underselling and price depression and/or suppression; lost sales and revenues; and adverse impact on the domestic industry's employment variables and profitability. 

Actions by Commerce

Commerce assessed the allegations and supporting evidence regarding material injury, threat of material injury, causation, as well as negligibility, and determined that these allegations are properly supported by adequate evidence and meet the statutory requirements for initiation. Commerce therefore initiated a CVD investigation to determine whether imports of tin mill products from China benefit from countervailable subsidies conferred by the Chinese government.

The petitioners named 19 companies in China as producers and/or exporters of tin mill products. Commerce intends to follow its standard practice in CVD investigations and calculate company-specific subsidy rates in this investigation. If the number of companies prevents Commerce from examining each company individually with available resources, Commerce will select mandatory respondents based on US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) data for US imports of tin mill products from China during the POI under the appropriate US Harmonized Tariff Schedule subheadings. The POI for this investigation is January 1, 2022, through December 31, 2022.

Timeline

On March 24, 2023, following receipt of a March 17 request from the petitioners, Commerce postponed its preliminary CVD determination to allow the petitioners additional time to collect the necessary information for the preliminary determination. The new deadline for the preliminary Commerce determination is no later than 130 days after the date on which this investigation was initiated (June 20, 2023). The deadline for the final determination will continue to be 75 days after the date of the preliminary determination.