US sues Vietnamese steel for dumping on suspicion of Chinese goods

The Competition Management Department (Ministry of Industry and Trade) said that a number of steel manufacturing enterprises in the United States have filed lawsuits against anti-dumping and anti-subsidy tax evasion with the US Department of Commerce (DOC) against corrosion-resistant steel products (galvanized steel) imported from Vietnam.

Vietnam's steel exports to the US increased sharply.

According to the Competition Management Department, on June 23, 2015, after conducting anti-dumping and anti-subsidy investigations on the same type of products originating from China and several other countries, the US issued an order to impose taxes on China with an anti-dumping tax rate of 199.4% and an anti-subsidy tax rate of 241.4%.

According to the plaintiffs, including California Steel Industries and Steel Dynamics, Inc., after the United States issued the tax order, China's export volume of this product to the United States decreased significantly, but the export volume of this product from Vietnam to the United States increased dramatically.

Due to suspicions that Chinese steel was being smuggled into Vietnam for export to the US, the plaintiff requested the DOC to initiate an investigation and postpone the liquidation of imported shipments of galvanized steel products from Vietnam and require a deposit for these shipments at a level equal to the tax rate for products from China.

DOC said it will review and decide whether to initiate an investigation within 45 days of receiving the application (expected October 22, 2016) and issue a final decision within 300 days.

Under US regulations, to add a third-country product to an existing tax order (AD/CVD tax evasion investigation), DOC must consider factors including whether, before being imported into the US, the product was finished or processed from a product produced in the taxed country and the processing or finishing process in the third country was “minor or insignificant”.

The agency will also consider whether the value of the goods produced in the country subject to the duties “accounts for a substantial portion of the total value of the product exported to the United States” to determine whether an investigation is necessary to prevent circumvention.

According to the Competition Management Department, DOC will consider the following factors: trade trends; whether the producer/exporter of input materials is linked to a party in a third country that uses these materials to process/finish products imported into the US; and whether the country subject to the tax increases its exports of input materials to the third country after DOC initiates the investigation and imposes the tax.

In addition, to decide whether the processing or finishing process is “minor or insignificant”, the level of investment, research and development, the nature of the production process, the level of production facilities in third countries...

According to VnEconomy