Countervailing Duties Findings Released by Commerce Dept.

The preliminary report is in response to what the department calls “significant” subsidies from Asian countries on hardwood and decorative plywood.

The new report from the U.S. Department of Commerce found that strong support from governments in China, Indonesia and Vietnam on their exports to the U.S. is creating an unfair advantage in the American market.

Commerce calculated preliminary countervailing duties of 81.34 percent on imports from China, 2.40 percent to 128.66 percent on imports from Indonesia and 4.37 percent to 26.75 percent on imports from Vietnam.

“The domestic hardwood and decorative plywood industry has been harmed for decades by unfairly traded imports from China, Indonesia and Vietnam,” said Timothy C. Brightbill, lead counsel to the Coalition for Fair Trade in Hardwood Plywood and also co-chair of Wiley’s International Trade Practice. He said the decision by the Commerce Department “is another critical step in leveling the playing field for American hardwood and decorative plywood manufacturers.”

According to published reports, once this preliminary finding is published in the Federal Register, US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) will begin collecting preliminary duties on hardwood and decorative plywood from the three nations. The report said that duties on Chinese products that entered the US up to 90 days before publication of these new guidelines would also be subject to these duties.

These findings are preliminary with the final guidelines currently scheduled for May of this year. The department is also said to be looking at antidumping rates from these three countries and could have an announcement on that action by late February.

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