Nhan Dan reported that the US Department of Commerce (DOC) is initiating anti-circumvention inquiries to investigate whether imports of certain corrosion-resistant steel products are trying to circumvent anti-dumping and countervailing duties imposed on Taiwan and Korea by completing the materials in Vietnam.

The DOC will examine whether the corrosion-resistant steel products which are completed in Vietnam from hot-rolled steel and/or cold-rolled steel products produced in Taiwan (China) and the RoK are circumventing the antidumping duty and countervailing duty orders on the two Asian countries.

The inquiries were made in response to requests from domestic US producers including ArcelorMittal USA LLC, Nucor Corporation, United States Steel Corporation, Steel Dynamics Inc and California Steel Industries. The domestic producers claim that the Vietnamese corrosion-resistant steel products exported to the US are the same class or type as those that are being slapped with tariffs from Taiwan (China) and the RoK. The domestic producers also provided evidence to show that the merchandise from Vietnam enters the US under the same tariff classification as subject merchandise.

The domestic producers have requested that the DOC treat corrosion-resistant steel products imports from Vietnam as subject merchandise under the scope of antidumping duty and countervailing duty orders on corrosion-resistant steel products from Taiwan (China) and the RoK and impose cash deposit requirements for estimated antidumping duty and countervailing duty on all imports of corrosion-resistant steel products from Vietnam.

The DOC intends to issue its final determination within 300 days of the date of publication of this initiation.