The U.S. International Trade Commission today made a preliminary determination that the U.S. mattress industry has been materially injured by imports of finished mattresses from the People’s Republic of China, Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Serbia, Thailand, Turkey and Vietnam.  

Now that the ITC has preliminarily found that the U.S. mattress industry has been materially injured by unfairly traded mattress imports from these countries, the U.S. Department of Commerce will determine in the China countervailing duty case whether imports from that country have benefited from unfair subsidies and, in the antidumping cases covering mattresses from the other seven countries, whether those imports were sold in the United States at unfair prices, the International Sleep Products Assn. said in an update to its members.

The deadline for DOC’s preliminary determination in the China countervailing duty case is currently on or about June 24 but may be postponed until approximately Aug. 28. DOC’s preliminary determinations in the seven antidumping cases are currently due on or about Sept. 8 but may be postponed until Oct. 27. DOC routinely postpones its preliminary determinations in most countervailing duties and antidumping cases, ISPA said.

DOC’s preliminary countervailing and antidumping determinations are important because they can result in imports from the named countries being subject to additional import duties to either offset the benefit of unfair subsidies (in the case of China) or the unfair pricing (in the other cases). In addition, it is possible that DOC will find in its preliminary determinations that “critical circumstances” exist that warrant imposing the countervailing duty and/or antidumping duties retroactively by up to 90 days prior to the date on which the preliminary determination is issued, ISPA said.  

If the DOC postpones its preliminary determinations, DOC is expected to issue its final determinations in these cases in early March 2021, and the ITC will issue its final injury determinations in late April 2021. The ongoing COVID-19 crisis may require DOC or the ITC to further postpone some or all of those deadlines, ISPA said.

Source: Furniture Today