The US Commerce Department in its findings Aug. 17 set preliminary antidumping duties on imports of tin and chromium-coated sheet steel products, collectively referred to as tin mill products, from Canada, China and Germany.
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Register NowThe department preliminarily found that imports of these products from Canada, China and Germany were sold to the US at less than normal value during the period of investigation.
This comes as US-based Cleveland-Cliffs and the United Steelworkers union petitioned the department to investigate imports of such products in January 2023.
Negative preliminary determinations were issued for South Korea, the Netherlands, Taiwan, Turkey and the UK.
In the findings, the department set preliminary antidumping duties of 5.29% for Canada and 7.02% for Germany.
China's preliminary cash deposit rate, adjusted for subsidy offsets, was set at 111.98% as the department continues to conduct a concurrent countervailing duty investigation on imports of tin mill products from the country.
The antidumping and countervailing duties will be applied to subject imports only when both the department and the US International Trade Commission have made their preliminary and final determinations pertaining to dumping or subsidies and whether imports harm domestic production.
"Today's announcement is only a preliminary determination by Commerce, and important steps remain so the department can get the final margins right," Scott Paul, president of the Alliance for American Manufacturing said in a statement. "It is critical that the fact-based investigation continues, and Commerce conducts a verification process with respect to all eight respondent countries."
The ITC in a March preliminary decision said there is a reasonable indication that US producers of tin mill products are being materially injured by allegedly dumped imports from the subject countries, as well as allegedly subsidized imports from China.
The department is scheduled to announce its final determination for China Oct. 31 and all other countries likely around Jan. 8, 2024.
The ITC's final determination regarding China is scheduled to be released Dec. 14 and for additional seven countries likely in early 2024, the department said without providing an exact date.
The potential for import duties to be applied on tin mill products has been a closely watched issue, pitting steel producers against consumers of these products.
The Can Manufacturers Institute, a trade organization representing the US metal can manufacturing industry and its suppliers, issued a statement Aug. 17 applauding the department's decision not to impose duties on tin mill imports from the Netherlands, UK, South Korea, Turkey and Taiwan.
"We are hopeful the final Commerce determination will eliminate the proposed duties on Canadian and German tin mill steel," CMI President Robert Budway said in a statement. "US tin plate prices already remain the highest in the world due to the [Section] 232 tariffs, placing domestic can makers at a competitive disadvantage to foreign imports of unfilled steel cans and foreign-filled food products."