US government backs imported aluminum extrusions tariffs

Makers of recycled-content aluminum extrusions in the United States have entered the final quarter of this year with some new protection from imported products found to have been subsidized or dumped in the U.S. by overseas producers.

In late September, the U.S. Department of Commerce (DOC) concluded that producers in 14 countries—China, Colombia, Ecuador, India, Indonesia, Italy, Malaysia, Mexico, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates and Vietnam—had sold dumped and subsidized aluminum extrusions into the U.S. in violation of international trade rules.

As a result, the department says it will impose antidumping duties at rates ranging from about 2 percent up to nearly 377 percent, and countervailing duties at rates ranging from less than 1.5 percent to nearly 170 percent.

Before the DOC ruling is considered final, the U.S. government’s International Trade Commission (ITC) will issue its own “final injury determination,” which will be made by four ITC commissioners. According to a spokesperson for the Aluminum Extruders Coalition (AEC), the ITC commissioners will vote on Oct. 30, and that vote will be disclosed Nov. 12.

The cases were filed for DOC investigation by the Washington-based AEC and the United Steelworkers (USW) union.

“These final determinations are another key step in remedying the harm caused by illegal dumping by foreign producers of aluminum extrusions, many of which have also benefited from unfair subsidies,” says Robert DeFrancesco, trade counsel to the petitioners and a partner in the International Trade Practice at Washington-based law firm Wiley Rein LLP. “The U.S. industry looks forward to relief from these unfairly traded imports when the U.S. International Trade Commission issues its final determination in November 2024.”

According to the DOC, while some foreign extruders will be subject to immediate duties as a result of the late September decision, the petitioners “also look forward to the final assessment rates calculated in the Commerce Department’s administrative review process a year from now. “

According to the AEC, duties are and will be assessed on the importer of record of the affected merchandise. “Duty evasion, absorption and circumvention are illegal and closely monitored by [U.S.] Customs, in conjunction with the Commerce Department, and severe penalties may apply,” the organization says.