The Coalition for Fair Trade of Hardwood Plywood has filed "critical circumstances" petitions with the Department of Commerce, to stop a recent surge of Chinese hardwood plywood imports into the United States.
The Coalition's action means that, if successful, antidumping and countervailing duties will be imposed 90 days earlier than usual, subjecting Chinese hardwood plywood imports to duties of up to 100 percent or more.
Commerce's preliminary determination in the countervailing duty case and antidumping case are due no later than April 17, 2017, and June 16, 2017, respectively. This means that if critical circumstances are found, Chinese hardwood plywood imported as early as January 17, 2017 will be subject to countervailing duties, and Chinese hardwood plywood imported as early as March 16, 2017 will be subject to antidumping duties.
"Chinese manufacturers and U.S. importers and purchasers are now on notice – they face duties on any imports since January," said Tim Brightbill, trade counsel to the Coalition. "The Chinese industry should not be allowed to undermine much-needed relief to the U.S. industry and its workers."
The investigations are currently being conducted by the Department of Commerce and the International Trade Commission (ITC) into unfairly traded imports of hardwood plywood from China.Chinese producers and exporters are rushing huge volumes of hardwood plywood exports to the United States prior to the imposition of duties which may result from the cases.
