ITC Rules Against Aluminum Duties

Today, the International Trade Commission (ITC) issued a rare negative determination in the final phase of the antidumping (AD) and countervailing duty (CVD) investigation on imports of aluminum extrusions from China, Colombia, Ecuador, India, Indonesia, Italy, Malaysia, Mexico, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, United Arab Emirates and Vietnam. As a result of the ITC's determination, the AD/CVD cases will be terminated and all duties collected by U.S. Customs and Border Protection will be refunded to importers. Over the past 15 years, the ITC has reached a negative final determination in less than 18 percent of all investigations, underscoring the rarity of this final determination.

This negative determination was based on a 2-1 vote by the ITC commissioners that the U.S. industry producing aluminum extrusions was not materially injured by imported merchandise. The ITC has not yet issued a report containing the details of the basis for its decision.

Although this determination means that the AD/CVD investigations will be terminated and no duties will be owed moving forward, we expect that the U.S. aluminum extrusions industry will appeal this decision by the ITC. If the appeal is successful, the AD/CVD duties could ultimately be reimposed, but the duties would be prospective to a future date, generally when the ITC’s revised determination is affirmed by the Court of International Trade and then published in the Federal Register. Today’s ruling has no impact on the pre-existing 2011 AD/CVD case on aluminum extrusions from China that remains in place.

For more information, contact RV Industry Association Director of Federal Affairs Samantha Rocci at srocci@rvia.org.