U.S. Department of Commerce Announces Affirmative Circumvention Ruling on Imports of Steel Concrete Reinforcing Bar from Mexico
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 1, 2020
Contact: Office of Public Affairs
Phone: 202-482-3809
WASHINGTON – Today, the U.S. Department of Commerce announced an affirmative circumvention ruling involving the antidumping duty (AD) order on imports of steel concrete reinforcing bar (rebar) from Mexico. Specifically, Commerce determined that imports of rebar that is bent at one or both ends (hooked or bent rebar) and produced and/or exported by Deacero S.A.P.I. de C.V. (Deacero) circumvent the existing AD order, which covers rebar from Mexico that is straight or coiled.
Accordingly, Commerce will instruct U.S. Customs and Border Protection to continue suspending liquidation and collecting AD cash deposits on imports of rebar from Mexico produced and/or exported by Deacero that are bent at one or both ends at the cash deposit rate in effect at the time of entry for imports of rebar from Mexico produced and/or exported by Deacero. Suspension and cash deposit requirements will apply to any unliquidated entries since October 18, 2019 (the date which Commerce initiated this circumvention inquiry) and future imports.
Cash deposits are not required for hooked rebar produced and/or exported by Deacero that has been sold in connection with a specific, identified construction project and produced according to an engineer’s structural design, consistent with industry standards. However, imports of such merchandise are subject to certification requirements, and cash deposits may be required if the certification requirements are not satisfied.
This inquiry was initiated in response to a request from U.S. domestic producers of rebar. The petitioner in this case is the Rebar Trade Action Coalition, whose members are Nucor Corporation (Charlotte, N.C.), Gerdau Ameristeel U.S. Inc. (Tampa, Fla.), Commercial Metals Company (Irving, Texas), Cascade Steel Rolling Mills, Inc. (McMinnville, Ore.), Byer Steel Group, Inc. (Cincinnati), and Steel Dynamics, Inc. (Fort Wayne, Ind.).
U.S. law provides that Commerce may conduct a circumvention inquiry when evidence suggests that merchandise subject to an existing AD order undergoes a minor alteration that brings the product outside the literal terms of the scope of the order.
The strict enforcement of U.S. trade law is a primary focus of the Trump administration. To date, the Trump administration has issued 50 preliminary or final affirmative determinations in anti-circumvention inquiries – a 213 percent increase from the number of such determinations made during the comparable period in the previous administration.
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 rules and is based on factual evidence provided on the record.
