By: Bernd G. Janzen, Matthew R. Nicely, Yujin Kim McNamara, Devin S. Sikes, Daniel M. Witkowski, Sarah Sprinkle, Julia K. Eppard, Yuzhe PengLing, Sydney Stringer
On October 4, 2023, domestic producers filed petitions with the U.S. Department of Commerce (DOC) and the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC), seeking antidumping (AD) duties on imports of aluminum extrusions from Colombia, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, India, Indonesia, Italy, Malaysia, Mexico, China, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Vietnam, and countervailing (CVD) duties on such imports from China, Indonesia, Mexico and Turkey. Injection Moulding Industry
Petitioners include the U.S. Aluminum Extruders Coalition, which consists of 14 domestic aluminum extrusions producers, and the U.S. Steel, Paper and Forestry, Rubber, Manufacturing, Energy, Allied Industrial and Service Workers International Union (USW). The 14 members of the Coalition are Alexandria Extrusion Company, APEL Extrusions, Bonnell Aluminum, Brazeway; Custom Aluminum Products, Extrudex Aluminum, International Extrusions, Jordan Aluminum Company, M-D Building Products Inc., Merit Aluminum Corporation, MI Metals; Pennex Aluminum, Tower Extrusions and Western Extrusions.
The case is one of the largest in recent years, with imports of aluminum extrusions from the 15 countries amounting to $3.19 billion in 2022. AD and CVD orders on Aluminum Extrusions from China, issued by DOC in 2011, are already in place, and the proposed product scope of the new petitions expands that of the existing orders to capture various additional types of aluminum extrusions.
Under U.S. law, a domestic industry may petition the government to initiate an AD investigation into the pricing of an imported product to determine whether it is sold in the United States at less than fair value (i.e., “dumped”). A domestic industry may also petition for the initiation of an investigation of alleged subsidization of foreign producers by a foreign government. AD and/or CVD duties can be imposed if DOC determines that imported goods are dumped and/or subsidized, and if the ITC also determines that the domestic industry is materially injured or threatened with such injury by reason of subject imports.
If the ITC and DOC make preliminary affirmative determinations, U.S. importers will be required to post cash deposits in the amounts of the estimated AD and/or CVD duties for all entries on or after the dates of publication of DOC’s preliminary determinations in the Federal Register. DOC will publish country-specific AD and CVD rates, likely based on individual rates calculated for the largest producers in each country. The preliminary AD/CVD rates can change in the final DOC determinations.
The merchandise subject to this investigation is aluminum extrusions, regardless of form, finishing or fabrication, whether assembled with other parts or unassembled, whether coated, painted, anodized or thermally improved. Aluminum extrusions are shapes and forms, produced by an extrusion process, made from aluminum alloys having metallic elements corresponding to the alloy series designations published by the Aluminum Association commencing with the numbers 1, 3 and 6 (or proprietary equivalents or other certifying body equivalents). Specifically, subject aluminum extrusions made from an aluminum alloy with an Aluminum Association series designation commencing with the number 1 contain not less than 99% aluminum by weight. Subject aluminum extrusions made from an aluminum alloy with an Aluminum Association series designation commencing with the number 3 contain manganese as the major alloying element, with manganese accounting for not more than 3% of total materials by weight. Subject aluminum extrusions made from an aluminum alloy with an Aluminum Association series designation commencing with the number 6 contain magnesium and silicon as the major alloying elements, with magnesium accounting for at least 0.1% but not more than 2% of total materials by weight, and silicon accounting for at least 0.1% but not more than 3% of total materials by weight. The scope also includes merchandise made from an aluminum alloy with an Aluminum Association series designation commencing with the number 5 (or proprietary equivalents or other certifying body equivalents) that have a magnesium content accounting for up to but not more than 2% of total materials by weight.
The country of origin of the aluminum extrusion is determined by where the metal is extruded (i.e., pressed through a die).
Imports of the subject merchandise are primarily provided for under the following categories of the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTSUS): 7604.10.1000; 7604.10.3000; 7604.10.5000; 7604.21.0010; 7604.21.0090; 7604.29.1010; 7604.29.1090; 7604.29.3060; 7604.29.3090; 7604.29.5050; 7604.29.5090; 7608.10.0030; 7608.10.0090; 7608.20.0030; 7608.20.0090; 7609.00.0000; 7610.10.0010; 7610.10.0020; 7610.10.0030; 7610.90.0040; and 7610.90.0080.
Imports of the subject merchandise, including subject merchandise entered as parts of other products, may also be classifiable under the following additional HTSUS categories, as well as other HTSUS categories: 6603.90.8100; 7606.12.3091; 7606.12.3096; 7615.10.2015; 7615.10.2025; 7615.10.3015; 7615.10.3025; 7615.10.5020; 7615.10.5040; 7615.10.7125; 7615.10.7130; 7615.10.7155; 7615.10.7180; 7615.10.9100; 7615.20.0000; 7616.10.9090; 7616.99.1000; 7616.99.5130; 7616.99.5140; 7616.99.5190; 8302.10.3000; 8302.10.6030; 8302.10.6060; 8302.10.6090; 8302.20.0000; 8302.30.3010; 8302.30.3060; 8302.41.3000; 8302.41.6015; 8302.41.6045; 8302.41.6050; 8302.41.6080; 8302.42.3010; 8302.42.3015; 8302.42.3065; 8302.49.6035; 8302.49.6045; 8302.49.6055; 8302.49.6085; 8302.50.0000; 8302.60.9000; 8305.10.0050; 8306.30.0000; 8414.59.6590; 8415.90.8045; 8418.99.8005; 8418.99.8050; 8418.99.8060; 8419.50.5000; 8419.90.1000; 8422.90.0640; 8424.90.9080; 8473.30.2000; 8473.30.5100; 8479.89.9599; 8479.90.8500; 8479.90.9596; 8481.90.9060; 8481.90.9085; 8486.90.0000; 8487.90.0080; 8503.00.9520; 8508.70.0000; 8513.90.2000; 8515.90.2000; 8516.90.5000; 8516.90.8050; 8517.71.0000; 8517.79.0000; 8529.90.7300; 8529.90.9760; 8536.90.8585; 8538.10.0000; 8541.90.0000; 8543.90.8885; 8708.10.3050; 8708.29.5160; 8708.80.6590; 8708.99.6890; 8807.30.0060; 9013.90.7000 9013.90.8000; 9031.90.9195; 9401.99.9081; 9403.10.0040; 9403.20.0086; 9403.91.0005; 9403.91.0010; 9403.91.0080; 9403.99.1040; 9403.99.1050; 9403.99.1085; 9403.99.2040; 9403.99.2080; 9403.99.3005; 9403.99.3010; 9403.99.3080; 9403.99.4004; 9403.99.4010; 9403.99.4080; 9403.99.5005; 9403.99.5010; 9403.99.5080; 9403.99.9010; 9403.99.9015; 9403.99.9020; 9403.99.9040; 9403.99.9045; 9403.99.9051; 9403.99.9061; 9405.99.4020; 9506.11.4080; 9506.51.4000; 9506.51.6000; 9506.59.4040; 9506. 70.2090; 9506.91.0010; 9506.91.0020; 9506.91.0030; 9506.99.0510; 9506.99.0520; 9506.99.0530; 9506.99.1500; 9506.99.2000; 9506.99.2580; 9506.99.2800; 9506.99.5500; 9506.99.6080; 9507.30.2000; 9507.30.4000; 9507.30.6000; 9507.30.8000; 9507.90.6000; and 9603.90.8050.
The scope includes a non-exhaustive list of further processed merchandise that includes aluminum extrusions that Petitioners intend to be included within the scope. Such products, which include goods like solar panel mounting systems, would be subject to any duties ultimately imposed, but the duties would only be assessed on the value of the aluminum extrusion portion of the merchandise (whether assembled or unassembled). Other examples of in-scope merchandise include a wide variety of products used in the building and construction, transportation, renewable energy and engineered product industries.
A full description of the proposed scope, including the non-exhaustive list of covered further processed merchandise and descriptions of the merchandise that is specifically excluded from the proposed scope, is provided in Attachment 1.
A list of foreign producers and exporters of aluminum extrusions, as identified in the petitions, is provided in Attachment 2.
A list of U.S. importers of aluminum extrusions, as identified in the petitions, is provided in Attachment 3.
Petitioners allege the following dumping margins for each of the individual countries.
DOC generally assigns duties at these alleged dumping rates to foreign producers and exporters that fail to cooperate with the investigation.
The petitions include no specific subsidy rates.
According to official U.S. import statistics, a total of 807 million short tons and $3.19 billion of the subject merchandise was imported into the United States in 2022. The quantity and value of total subject merchandise covered by these petitions makes their trade impact one of the largest of any AD/CVD petitions filed in the last decade. The table below shows the 2022 quantity and value of aluminum extrusions exported to the United States from each of the subject countries.
The full quantity and value breakdown for aluminum extrusions exported from the 15 subject countries is available at Attachment 4.
The below table provides the estimated schedule for the investigations before the ITC and DOC. The schedule assumes that DOC will extend its statutory deadlines to the extent possible under the statute, which is its usual practice in investigations, particularly those involving large volumes of trade.
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