US Commerce proposes anti-dumping, countervailing regulation changes

The US Department of Commerce has proposed modifying anti-dumping (AD) and countervailing (CV) duty order regulations, Kallanish reports.

The proposed modifications include the creation of standalone rules to govern Commerce’s conduct of circumvention inquiries and the creation of rules for Commerce to assist US Customs and Border Protection in combating duty evasion. Other modifications include creating rules to prevent foreign companies from abusing new shipper reviews and updating existing rules on scope inquiries in order to streamline procedures and expedite deadlines.

If adopted, the changes would increase the efficiency of trade proceedings as well as create new enforcement tools to be used in combating circumvention and evasion, Commerce states.

“Since the beginning, President [Donald] Trump and his administration have remained steadfast in defending the interests of American workers and the vigorous enforcement of our trade remedy laws, so those who take risks, innovate, create new products or toil on the farm receive all the protection from unfair trade to which they are entitled. The regulations being proposed today reaffirm our commitment,” says US Department of Commerce secretary Wilbur Ross.

As of 13 August, Commerce has initiated 281 new antidumping and countervailing duty investigations under the Trump administration. This is a 260% increase from the comparable period under the Obama administration. Commerce maintains 531 AD/CV duty orders on unfairly traded imports, compared to the 368 orders in place at the end of the Obama administration.

The deadline to submit public comment on the proposed rules is 14 September.