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Petitions for the Imposition of Antidumping and Countervailing Duties on Certain Glass Containers from the People's Republic of China - Grunfeld, Desiderio, Lebowitz, Silverman & Klestadt LLP

I.  Type of Action: Antidumping Duty (“AD”) and Countervailing Duty (“CVD”): PRC

II.  Product:  The merchandise covered by this investigation are certain glass containers with a nominal capacity of 0.059 liters (2.0 fluid ounces) to 4.0 liters (135.256 fluid ounces) and an opening or mouth with a nominal outer diameter of 14 millimeters to 120 millimeters. The scope includes glass jars, bottles, flasks and similar containers; with or without their closures; whether clear or colored; and with or without, design or functional enhancements (including, but not limited to, handles, embossing, labeling, or etching).

Excluded from the scope of the investigation are: (1) Glass containers made of borosilicate glass, meeting United States Pharmacopeia requirements for Type 1 pharmaceutical containers; (2) Glass containers produced by ‘free blown’ method or otherwise without the use of a mold (i.e., without ‘mold seems’, ‘joint marks’, or ‘parting lines’); and (3) Glass containers without a ‘finish’ (i.e., the section of a container at the opening including the lip and ring or collar, threaded or otherwise compatible with a type of closure, including but not limited to a lid, cap, or cork).

III.  HTS classifications:  Glass containers subject to this investigation are specified within the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTSUS) under subheadings 7010.90.5009, 7010.90.5019, 7010.90.5029, 7010.90.5039, 7010.90.5049, 7010.90.5055, 7010.90.5005, 7010.90.5015, 7010.90.5025, 7010.90.5035, and 7010.90.5045.

IV.  Date of Filing: September 25, 2019

V.  Petitioners: American Glass Packaging Coalition

VI.  Foreign Producers/Exporters: Please contact our office for a list filed with the petition

VII.  US Importers named:  Please contact our office for a list filed with the petition.

VIII.  Alleged Dumping Margins (No CVD Margins Listed):  The calculated dumping margin for OBS US-201, US-202, and US-203, and US-204 is 499.40 percent, 264.13 percent, 818.57 percent, and 323.34 percent, respectively.

IX.  Comments:

A.  Projected date of ITC Preliminary Conference: October 30, 2019.

B.  The earliest theoretical date for retroactive suspension of liquidation for the AD is December 4, 2019; CVD is October 15, 2019.  Please contact our office for a complete projected schedule for the AD/CVD investigation.

C.  Volume and Value of Imports:  Please contact our office for a summary of the data filed with the petition.

D.  List of Alleged Subsidy Programs:  Please contact our office for a list of alleged subsidy programs.

If you have questions regarding how this investigation may impact future imports of scope merchandise or whether a particular product is within the scope of the investigation, please contact one of our attorneys.


CBERA Continues to Have a Small but Positive Impact on Beneficiary Countries and a Negligible Effect on U.S. Imports, Producers, and Consumers; Imports Increased in 2018, Says USITC - U.S. International Trade Commission

The overall effect of the Caribbean Basin Economic Recovery Act (CBERA) on the U.S. economy generally, and U.S. import, industries, and consumers continues to be negligible, while the effect on beneficiary countries is small but positive, reports the U.S. International Trade Commission (USITC) in its publication Caribbean Basin Economic Recovery Act: Impact on U.S. Industries and Consumers and on Beneficiary Countries, Twenty-fourth Report, 2017-18.

The USITC, an independent, nonpartisan, factfinding federal agency, recently issued its 24th biennial report monitoring U.S. imports under CBERA. The CBERA program, operative since January 1, 1984, affords preferential tariff treatment to most products of the 17 designated Caribbean countries that received CBERA benefits during the period covered in the report.

The latest USITC report covers the impact of CBERA, as modified by the Caribbean Basin Trade Partnership Act of 2000 (CBTPA), and the HOPE and HELP Acts, on the United States, with particular emphasis on calendar year 2018. CBERA requires the USITC to prepare a biennial report assessing both the actual and the probable future effect of CBERA on the U.S. economy generally, on U.S. industries, and on U.S. consumers. The report also covers the impact of the preference program on the beneficiary countries. The following are highlights from the latest report.

The overall effect of CBERA imports on the U.S. economy generally and on U.S. imports, industries, and consumers continued to be negligible in 2018. For U.S. industries in particular, the overall effect of the program on domestic production, employment, and operating profits was also negligible. The USITC identified two U.S. industries -- methanol and t-shirts -- that most likely have faced negative effects due to competition from CBERA imports.
 
U.S. imports receiving preferential treatment under CBERA totaled $1.7 billion in 2018, an increase of 9.1 percent from $1.5 billion in 2017. The value of U.S. imports under CBERA declined between 2012 and 2016, but increased in both 2017 and 2018. The change was driven primarily by increasing imports of two products: methanol from Trinidad and Tobago, and apparel from Haiti. Petroleum-related products accounted for 29.9 percent of imports under CBERA in 2018, with Trinidad and Tobago’s methanol supplying 89 percent of such imports. Textiles and apparel, supplied mainly by Haiti, accounted for 56 percent of U.S. imports under CBERA in 2018, with cotton T-shirts supplying 30.1 percent of those imports. The remaining imports were agricultural products and other mining and manufactured products, comprising 7.9 percent and 6.2 percent of imports under CBERA, respectively.
 
Special CBERA provisions for Haiti have had a strong, positive effect on export earnings and job creation in Haiti's apparel sector. Apparel assembly is Haiti's largest manufacturing activity and the country's largest source of manufacturing jobs. CBERA -- enhanced by CBTPA and the HOPE and HELP Acts -- has been an important factor in promoting apparel production in Haiti and apparel exports to the U.S. market.

CBERA has encouraged several beneficiary countries to develop niche exports to the United States, including polystyrene from The Bahamas, fruits and fruit juices from Belize, and electronic products from St. Kitts and Nevis.
 
Investment for the near-term production and export of CBERA-eligible products is expected to have negligible impact on U.S. competitive industries as well as on the U.S. economy.
 
Exporting CBERA-eligible goods is a challenge for many CBERA beneficiaries because of supply-side constraints, including inadequate infrastructure and an increasing focus on the export of services.
 
The future effect of CBERA on the U.S. economy and domestic industries will likely remain small. CBERA countries generally are, and are likely to remain in the near term, small suppliers to the U.S. market. Most of the effect of CBERA on the U.S. economy occurred shortly after the program’s implementation in 1984, as well as after implementation of each major enhancement to CBERA.

Caribbean Basin Economic Recovery Act: Impact on U.S. Industries and Consumers and on Beneficiary Countries, Twenty-fourth Report, 2017-18 (Inv. No. 332-227, USITC Publication 4985, September 2019) is available at https://www.usitc.gov/publications/332/pub4985.pdf.

USITC general factfinding investigations, such as this one, cover matters related to tariffs or trade and are generally conducted at the request of the U.S. Trade Representative, the House Committee on Ways and Means, or the Senate Committee on Finance. The resulting reports convey the Commission's objective findings and independent analyses on the subjects investigated. The Commission makes no recommendations on policy or other matters in its general factfinding reports. Upon completion of each investigation, the USITC submits its findings and analyses to the requestor. General factfinding investigation reports are subsequently released to the public, unless they are classified by the requestor for national security reasons.


U.S. Department of Commerce Finds Dumping of Imports of Strontium Chromate from Austria and France - U.S. Department of Commerce

Today, the U.S. Department of Commerce announced the affirmative final determinations in the antidumping duty (AD) investigations of imports of strontium chromate from Austria and France, finding that exporters from Austria and France have sold strontium chromate at less than fair value in the United States at the following rates:

Austria – 25.90 percent
France – 32.16 percent

In 2018, imports of strontium chromate from Austria and France were valued at an estimated $5.00 million and $1.08 million, respectively.

The petitioner is Lumimove, Inc., d.b.a. WPC Technologies.

The strict enforcement of U.S. trade law is a primary focus of the Trump Administration. Since the beginning of the current Administration, Commerce has initiated 182 new antidumping and countervailing duty investigations – a 231 percent increase from the comparable period in the previous administration.

Antidumping and countervailing duty laws provide American businesses and workers with an internationally accepted mechanism to seek relief from the harmful effects of the unfair pricing of imports into the United States. Commerce currently maintains 496 antidumping and countervailing duty orders which provide relief to American companies and industries impacted by unfair trade.

The U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) is currently scheduled to make its final injury determinations on or about November 14, 2019. If the ITC makes affirmative final injury determinations, Commerce will issue AD orders. If the ITC makes negative final determinations of injury, the investigations will be terminated and no orders will be issued.

Click HERE for a fact sheet on today’s decisions.

The U.S. Department of Commerce’s Enforcement and Compliance unit within the International Trade Administration is responsible for vigorously enforcing U.S. trade law and does so through an impartial, transparent process that abides by international law and is based on factual evidence provided on the record.

Foreign companies that price their products in the U.S. market below the cost of production or below prices in their home markets are subject to antidumping duties. Companies that receive unfair subsidies from their governments, such as grants, loans, equity infusions, tax breaks, or production inputs, are subject to countervailing duties aimed at directly countering those subsidies.


Federal Register Notices:

Antidumping or Countervailing Duty Investigations, Orders, or Reviews: Oil Country Tubular Goods From Ukraine: Preliminary Results of the First Five-Year Sunset Review of the Antidumping Duty Order

Under President Trump’s leadership, the United States and Japan have reached agreement on early achievements from negotiations in the areas of market access for certain agriculture and industrial goods, as well as on digital trade. The United States looks forward to further negotiations with Japan for a comprehensive agreement that addresses remaining tariff and non-tariff barriers and achieves fairer, more balanced trade. 

1.  LIBERALIZING MARKET ACCESS BETWEEN THE UNITED STATES AND JAPAN

  • The United States and Japan have reached an agreement in which Japan will eliminate or lower tariffs for certain U.S. agricultural products.  For other agricultural goods, Japan will provide preferential U.S.-specific quotas.  
     
  • Once this agreement is implemented, over 90 percent of U.S. food and agricultural products imported into Japan will either be duty free or receive preferential tariff access. For example, under the agreement, Japan will:
     
    • Reduce tariffs on products such as fresh and frozen beef and pork.
    • Provide a country-specific quota for wheat and wheat products.
    • Reduce the mark-up on imported U.S. wheat and barley.
    • Immediately eliminate tariffs for almonds, walnuts, blueberries, cranberries, sweet corn, grain sorghum, broccoli, and more.
    • Provide staged tariff elimination for products such as cheeses, processed pork, poultry, beef offal, ethanol, wine, frozen potatoes, oranges, fresh cherries, egg products, and tomato paste.

This agreement provides for the limited use of safeguards by Japan for surges in imports of beef, pork, whey, oranges, and race horses, which will be phased out over time.

When the agreement is implemented by Japan, American farmers and ranchers will have the same advantage as CP-TPP countries selling into the Japanese market.

The United States will provide tariff elimination or reduction on 42 tariff lines for agricultural imports from Japan valued at $40 million in 2018, including products such as certain perennial plants and cut flowers, persimmons, green tea, chewing gum, and soy sauce.

The United States will also reduce or eliminate tariffs on certain industrial goods from Japan such as certain machine tools, fasteners, steam turbines, bicycles, bicycle parts, and musical instruments.

2. CONCLUDING A HIGH-STANDARD DIGITAL TRADE AGREEMENT

  • The United States and Japan have reached a separate agreement on a high-standard and comprehensive set of provisions addressing priority areas of digital trade. These areas include:
     
    • Prohibitions on imposing customs duties on digital products transmitted electronically such as videos, music, e-books, software, and games.
    • Ensuring non-discriminatory treatment of digital products, including coverage of tax measures.
    • Ensuring barrier-free cross-border data transfers in all sectors.
    • Prohibiting data localization requirements, including for financial service suppliers.
    • Prohibiting arbitrary access to computer source code and algorithms.
    • Ensuring firms’ flexibility to use innovative encryption technology in their products.
       
The digital trade agreement with Japan meets the gold standard on digital trade rules set by the USMCA and will expand trade in an area where the United States is a leader.
 
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