Today, U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross announced the initiation of a new antidumping duty (AD) investigation of imports of carton-closing staples from the People’s Republic of China.

“The Department will act swiftly, while assuring a full and fair assessment of the facts, to ensure that everyone trades on a level playing field,” said Secretary Ross. “The Trump administration is committed to the enforcement of America’s vital trade laws that ensure U.S. businesses and workers have a fair chance to compete.”

The petitioner, North American Steel & Wire, Inc./ISM Enterprises, filed a petition seeking relief from the effects of dumped merchandise on the U.S. industry on March 31. More than 30 Chinese producers of carton-closing staples are identified in the petition. The estimated dumping margins range from 13.76 percent to 263.43 percent.

In 2016, imports of carton-closing staples from China were valued at an estimated $73.2 million.

Click HERE for a fact sheet on these initiations.

AD laws provide U.S. businesses and workers with an internationally accepted mechanism to seek relief from the injurious effects of dumping of imports into the United States. Today’s action launches an AD investigation that will determine if Chinese exporters of carton-closing stables have sold these products at prices below the cost of production in the United States.

In addition, the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) is conducting an investigation to determine whether or not the domestic industry is injured or threatened with material injury by imports of carton-closing staples from China. The ITC is currently scheduled to make its preliminary injury determination on or before May 15.

If the ITC issues an affirmative preliminary injury decision, the investigation will continue and Commerce will be scheduled to make its preliminary AD determination on September 7, unless the statutory deadline is extended.

Should the Department of Commerce preliminarily find dumping duties, the Department will instruct U.S. Customs and Border Protection to collect cash deposits based on the preliminary rates from all U.S. companies importing carton-closing staples from China.

If Commerce and the ITC ultimately issue affirmative final AD and injury determinations, Commerce will issue an AD order. However, if either agency does not find dumping or injury, the investigation will be terminated and no order will be issued.