Aluminum Extrusions Anti Dumping Finding

Thursday, The Commerce Department announced its preliminarily determination that aluminum extrusion producers and exporters in China, Colombia, Ecuador, India, Indonesia, Italy, Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, and Vietnam sold aluminum extrusions at less-than-fair value in the United States.

Commerce launched an anti-dumping investigation into aluminum extrusions from the countries in October last year at the request of the Aluminum Extruders Council.

"The Commerce Department's findings against these 14 countries show just how widespread dumping practices are globally and highlight the importance of strongly enforcing the antidumping laws to shield U.S. businesses and workers from the devastating effects of unfair trade," said Robert E. DeFrancesco, trade counsel to the Petitioners and a partner in the International Trade Practice at Wiley.

"We are encouraged by the preliminary affirmative findings and will continue to work with the Commerce Department to ensure that for its final determination, the margins properly reflect the full amount of dumping taking place by the foreign producers.

In 2022, the U.S. imported 57 million tons of aluminum extrusions worth about US$3.19 billion from 15 countries, according to U.S. Department of Commerce statistics. The United States imported 110,000 tons worth US$660 million from Mexico, the largest exporter of aluminum extrusions to the United States.

Call for Monitoring

In comments submitted to the US Trade Representative, Curt Wells of The Aluminum Association encourages efforts to maintain the Aluminum Import Monitoring (AIM) system.

"While Canada has implemented a formal monitoring program for aluminum imports consistent with commitments undertaken when the assessment of Section 232 tariffs on Canada was terminated in May 2019, Mexico has not yet followed through on a commitment to do so. Mexico should be encouraged strongly to fulfill its commitment in this regard."

Wells notes the whack-a-mole impact of punitive duties.  "AD/CVD orders against China in the aluminum foil and common alloy sheet markets in 2018 and 2019, much of this unfairly traded metal shifted to several other countries, leading producers in those countries to start dumping in the United States."

Commerce's determination establishes the preliminary duty rates in the dumping segments of the investigations. In approximately one week, following the publication of Commerce's preliminary determination in the Federal Register, Commerce will instruct U.S. Customs and Border Protection to begin suspending liquidation and collecting preliminary duties (in the form of cash deposits) on entries of aluminum extrusions from these 14 countries.

For imports from China, Mexico, Indonesia, and Turkey, antidumping duties will be added to countervailing duties announced on March 5, 2024.

Currently, Korean aluminum extrusions imported into the United States are duty-free under the Korea-U.S. Free Trade Agreement (FTA).

These are preliminary determinations only. Commerce continues to collect information, and parties will have additional opportunities to comment on Commerce's preliminary calculations. Commerce is scheduled to issue its final determinations in mid-July, which could be extended to late September 2024, and the preliminary calculated rates may increase.