The Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security (“BIS”) issued a Federal Register Notice on May, 19, 2020, inviting comments from interested parties on its investigation regarding the potential expansion of Section 232 tariffs to include imports of steel incorporated into electrical transformers. Comments on the investigation may be submitted on or before June…

On May 8, 2020, the International Trade Commission voted that there was reasonable indication that dumped and illegally subsidized imports of non-refillable steel cylinders from China are injuring U.S. industry, according to the ITC’s press release.  The affirmative injury vote means that the investigations will continue at the Department of Commerce.  Commerce is scheduled…

On May 13, 2020, United Steel, Paper and Foresty, Rubber, Manufacturing, Energy, Allied Industrial and Service Workers International Union, AFL-CIO, CLC (“Petitioners”), filed a petition for the imposition of antidumping duties on passenger vehicle and light truck tires (“PVLT tires”) from Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, and Vietnam. In addition, the petition alleges that imports of PVLT…

On May 12, 2020, the Department of Commerce (“Commerce”) announced its affirmative final determination in the CVD investigation of imports of certain glass containers from China.  See the fact sheet for a summary of the final cash deposit rates and margins.

Commerce calculated and assigned subsidy rates of 27.10% and 25.46% to mandatory respondents Guangdong…

U.S. Supply Chain

On May 13, 2020, the United States Trade Representative (“USTR”) issued new product exclusions pertaining to the 7.5% Section 301 List 4A Tariffs.  The new list of exclusions includes three 10-digit HTS subheadings and five specially prepared product descriptions that together cover 27 separate exclusion requests.  The full list of excluded products is available here…

The U.S. Department of Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (“OFAC”) recently announced the removal of General License 13E (“GL 13E”), authorizing certain activities involving Nynas AB, a Swedish manufacturer of specialty oils owned in part by PDVSA, Venezuela’s state-owned oil company.  The notice issued by OFAC states that Nynas AB “has undertaken a corporate…

On May 6, 2020, U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross announced that the Commerce will initiate an investigation to examine whether imports of mobile cranes were threatening to impair the national security.  Commerce will conduct an examination into both the quantities or circumstances of mobile crane imports.

Section 232 investigations are conducted under Section 232…

On May 6, 2020, the U.S. Department of Commerce published a notice initiating new Administrative Reviews for antidumping duty (AD) and countervailing duty (CVD) orders with March anniversary dates. Listed below are the countries and products named in the notice:

AD

  1. Brazil: Certain Uncoated Paper (A-351-842)
  2. Portugal: Uncoated Paper (A-471-807)
  3. Thailand: Circular Welded Carbon Steel

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On Monday May 4, 2020, the Department of Commerce issued a news release announcing the start of a Section 232 investigation on imports of “Laminations and Wound Cores for Incorporation Into Transformers, Electrical Transformers, and Transformer Regulators.”  This investigation is effectively an examination of whether or not to expand the current Section 232 tariffs on…

On May 1, 2020 U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) published an update to their previous guidance on Section 232 product exclusions granted by the Department of Commerce (DOC) and Section 301 product exclusions granted by the United States Trade Representative (USTR).  The CBP message stated that these exclusions may be retroactive for unliquidated entries…