International Trade Commission Makes Affirmative Final Determinations in Critically Important CTL Plate Trade Cases

Washington, DC—In a key victory for U.S. steel producers, the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) has made affirmative final determinations in the antidumping (AD) and countervailing duty (CVD) investigations on carbon and alloy steel cut-to-length (CTL) plate from Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Korea, and Taiwan. The ITC found that U.S. steel producers have been materially injured by unfairly traded imports of CTL plate from these countries, paving the way for the imposition of AD/CVD orders. All five Commissioners voted in the affirmative. Today’s determination follows affirmative determinations by the ITC with regard to CTL plate imports from Brazil, China, South Africa, and Turkey earlier this year.

The ITC determination comes in response to an April 2016 petition filed by Nucor Corporation, ArcelorMittal USA, and SSAB Enterprises, alleging that unfairly dumped and subsidized CTL plate from 12 countries is injuring the U.S. industry and threatening the industry with additional injury. “These final determinations are an important step toward restoring fair trade to the U.S. flat-rolled steel market and providing much-needed relief to U.S. producers,” said Alan Price, chair of Wiley Rein’s International Trade Practice and counsel to Nucor Corporation. “We welcome the final decision and commend the ITC and the Commerce Department for their hard work on these investigations.” 

“This decision confirms that the U.S. steel industry has been injured by unfairly traded CTL plate imports from these countries,” said Alan H. Price, partner and chair of Wiley Rein’s International Trade Practice, and counsel to Nucor Corporation. “With today’s determination, the ITC is sending a message that all countries must abide by the rules of international trade or be held accountable.”

Prior to today’s vote, the Commerce Department determined that producers in the eight subject countries were dumping CTL plate into the United States at the following margins: Austria (53.72%); Belgium (5.40% - 51.78%); France (6.15% - 148.02%); Germany (5.52% - 22.90%); Italy (6.08% - 22.19%); Japan (14.79% - 48.67%); Korea (7.39%); and Taiwan (3.62% - 6.95%). AD orders will be issued, imposing duties at these levels. In addition, Commerce found that producers in Korea, the only country of the eight on which a CVD investigations was filed, were being unfairly subsidized at a rate of 4.31%.

The ITC also recently made affirmative final injury determinations in cases on corrosion-resistant steel from five countries (China, Korea, Taiwan, India, and Italy), cold-rolled steel from six countries (Brazil, China, India, Japan, Korea, and the United Kingdom), and hot-rolled steel from seven countries (Australia, Brazil, Japan, Korea, Netherlands, Turkey, and the United Kingdom).