Commerce to Consider AD Circumvention by Thai OCTG Made From Chinese Steel
The Commerce Department is beginning an anti-circumvention inquiry to determine whether all imports of oil country tubular goods from Thailand made from Chinese steel billets are circumventing antidumping and countervailing duties on oil country tubular goods from China (A-570-943/C-570-944), it said Dec. 18.
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
If your job depends on informed compliance, you need International Trade Today. Delivered every business day and available any time online, only International Trade Today helps you stay current on the increasingly complex international trade regulatory environment.
The anti-circumvention inquiry will apply country-wide, to all "seamless OCTG completed in Thailand using Chinese-produced steel billets, and subsequently exported from Thailand to the United States," Commerce said. The inquiry was requested by the Committee on Pipe and Tube Imports Subcommittee for OCTG and the United Steelworkers labor union.
Commerce will direct CBP to "continue the suspension of liquidation of entries of products subject to the circumvention inquiry that were already subject to the suspension of liquidation under the Order." If Commerce finds circumvention in the preliminary determination of this inquiry, the agency will direct CBP to suspend liquidation for unliquidated entries on or after Dec. 18, 2024, though the agency may decide to suspend liquidation prior to that date.
Commerce will issue questionnaires to "solicit information from producers and exporters in Thailand concerning their shipments of OCTG made from Chinese-origin steel billets to the United States." Companies that fail to respond completely may get hit with an “adverse facts available” penalty, such as an inference by Commerce that the companies are circumventing duties.