U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross announced an affirmative preliminary determination in the countervailing duty (CVD) investigation of passenger vehicle and light truck (passenger tires) tires from Vietnam. The Commerce Department preliminarily determined that exporters and producers from Vietnam received counter available subsidies with rates ranging from 6.23 percent to 10.08 percent. Among the subsidies preliminarily countervailed is Vietnam’s undervalued currency – making this the first time that Commerce has ever made an affirmative CVD determination regarding a foreign currency with a unitary exchange rate.  

“Today’s preliminary determination represents an important step forward for the America First trade agenda,” said Secretary Ross. “The Trump Administration remains vigilant against foreign actors that take advantage of American workers and businesses, and we will continue addressing this issue to ensure American industry competes on a level playing field.”

As a result of today’s decision, Commerce will instruct U.S. Customs and Border Protection to collect cash deposits from importers of passenger tires from Vietnam based on these preliminary rates noted above. 

The petitioner is the United Steel, Paper and Forestry, Rubber, Manufacturing, Energy, Allied Industrial, and Service Workers International Union, AFL-CIO, CLC. The company is headquartered in Pittsburgh, PA.

Commerce is scheduled to announce its final determination in this case on or about March 16, 2021. This deadline may be extended.  

If Commerce makes an affirmative final determination, the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) will be scheduled to make its final injury determination on or about April 30, 2021. If Commerce makes an affirmative final determination in this investigation and the ITC makes an affirmative final injury determination, Commerce will issue a CVD order. If Commerce makes a negative final determination of countervailable subsidization or the ITC makes a negative final determination of injury, the investigation will be terminated and no order will be issued.

In 2019, imports of passenger tires from Vietnam were valued at approximately $469.6 million.

Click HERE for a fact sheet on today’s decision.

Commerce is also conducting concurrent antidumping duty (AD) investigations of passenger tires from Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, and Vietnam. The preliminary determinations in these investigations are scheduled to be announced on December 29, 2020.

The strict enforcement of U.S. trade law is a primary focus of the Trump Administration. Commerce currently maintains 540 AD and CVD orders, which provide relief to American companies and industries impacted by unfair trade. Since the beginning of the current administration, Commerce has initiated 297 new AD and CVD investigations – a 271 percent increase from the comparable period in the previous administration.

The CVD law provides American businesses and workers with an internationally accepted mechanism to seek relief from the harmful effects of unfair subsidization of imports into the United States. In February 2020, Commerce published a final regulation explaining how Commerce will apply the CVD law to subsidies associated with the undervaluation of foreign currencies. 

Foreign companies that receive financial assistance from foreign governments that benefit those companies’ production of goods and are limited to specific enterprises or industries, or are contingent upon export performance or upon the use of domestic goods over imported goods, are subject to countervailing duties. 

The U.S. Department of Commerce’s Enforcement and Compliance unit within the International Trade Administration is responsible for vigorously enforcing U.S. trade laws and does so through an impartial, transparent process consistent with international rules and based on factual evidence provided on the record.