U.S. Department of Commerce Announces Affirmative Final Circumvention Determination on Imports of Hydrofluorocarbon Blends from China

For Immediate Release
March 12, 2020
Contact: Office of Public Affairs
Phone: 202-482-3809

WASHINGTON – Today, the U.S. Department of Commerce announced an affirmative final antidumping duty (AD) circumvention determination on imports of unfinished blends of hydrofluorocarbon (HFC) components R-32 and R-125 from China that are further processed in the United States. Commerce has found that these components are circumventing the existing AD order on imports of HFC blends (R–404A, R-407A, R–407C, R–410A, and R–507A) from China.

As a result of this affirmative final circumvention determination, Commerce will instruct U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to continue to collect AD cash deposits on imports of unfinished blends of HFC components R-32 and R-125 from China. These duties will apply to any unliquidated entries since June 18, 2019 (the date on which Commerce initiated this circumvention inquiry).

This inquiry was conducted pursuant to requests from CBP and allegations of circumvention from the American HFC Coalition.

The strict enforcement of U.S. trade law is a primary focus of the Trump administration. To date, the Trump administration has issued 45 preliminary or final affirmative determinations in anti-circumvention inquiries – this is a 200 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 rules and does so through an impartial, transparent process that abides by international rules and is based on factual evidence provided on the record.

###