Circumvention has been one of the key topics of discussion this year in the U.S.-China aluminum extrusion trade case. In this month ’ s blog entry I will discuss the False Claims Act. As you may recall, earlier this year the AEC reported that several companies in the Tai Shan case had settled allegations of False Claims Act violations brought by the Department of Justice. This news triggered a number of discussions among AEC membership about circumvention in general and generated a lot of questions about the False Claims Act. As the Council ’ s program manager on the Fair Trade Case, this year part of my journey has been to learn more about circumvention and what the United States government is doing to enforce trade orders. The government has shown significant interest in investigating companies that have allegedly falsified documentation during the importation of aluminum extrusions. Such conduct could be considered a violation of th...
The Aluminum Extruders Council (AEC) has led the U.S. aluminum extrusion industry in achieving level competition by winning tariff protection that offsets unfair trade practices of extruders/importers of aluminum profiles produced in China. Our efforts have been of enormous value to domestic extruders and suppliers. Conservatively, an estimated 800 million pounds per year of extrusions are being produced in the U. S. that would have otherwise been lost to China.