Trade Cases
Commerce delays initial CVD decision in coated case
Written by Laura Miller
November 12, 2024
At the request of domestic petitioners, the Commerce Department has postponed its deadline for setting preliminary countervailing duty (CVD) margins in the coated steel trade case filed on Sept. 5.
Legal counsel representing Steel Dynamics, Nucor, U.S. Steel, Wheeling-Nippon Steel, and the United Steelworkers petitioned Commerce on Nov. 4, asking that it push back making its preliminary CVD determination, which had been scheduled for Nov. 29.
The petitioners said it was necessary to ensure Commerce has enough time to adequately analyze all the information submitted by respondents in the case.
According to a filing dated Nov. 7 that has yet to be officially published in the Federal Register, Commerce found that it had “no compelling reason to deny the requests” and would therefore push its decision to Feb. 3, 2025.
The agency will not issue preliminary CVD margins for coated imports from the countries under investigation for allegedly receiving illegal subsidies until that time. Those countries include Mexico, Canada, Brazil, and Vietnam.
Anti-dumping case
This deadline extension does not apply to the antidumping portion of the coated steel investigations.
But it’s highly likely that Commerce will do the same for the AD portion, due to the complexity and vastness of the cases.
Recall that 10 countries are under investigation for supposedly dumping corrosion-resistant (CORE) steel in the US market. Those include the four mentioned above, as well as Australia, the Netherlands, South Africa, Taiwan, Turkey, and the United Arab Emirates.
If the AD case is also pushed back, Commerce would then make its initial and final decisions by Apr. 3 and June 17, respectively, and the International Trade Commission’s final injury ruling would be made by Aug. 1.
Why it matters
Commerce’s delayed decision is important as it affects the dates when the collection of duties begins. SMU has heard that some companies are rushing to import as much galvanized and Galvalume sheet steel as they can before duties are assessed.
CBP typically begins collecting duties after Commerce issues its preliminary margin decisions. As it stands now, that will be Feb. 3 for the CVDs and Feb. 12 for the ADs. (A postponement in the AD case would push those initial determinations out to April 3.)
If petitioners allege and Commerce affirms that critical circumstances exist in these cases, duties would be applied retroactively 90 days before Commerce’s preliminary determinations. This would push the duty collection start dates to Nov. 5 for CVDs and Nov. 14 for ADs. (If the AD case is delayed and critical circumstances exist, duty collection would begin Jan 3.)
Laura Miller
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