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Huge Win for the Industry: Kingtom Declared China Entity; Must Pay Duties

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 In one of the biggest decisions in Aluminum Extruders Council (AEC) history, the U.S. Commerce Department reached its final determination in the 9th Annual Administrative Review on Aluminum Extrusion imports from China.  In that decision, Commerce will apply China duties on all imports from Kingtom Aluminio SRL.  This decision is in step with their preliminary decision last summer.  The Kingtom imports will be faced with an 86.01% Anti-Dumping (AD) duty, and a Countervailing Duty (CVD) rate of 242.56% for a combined tariff of 328.57%!  As I write this report, we are still awaiting the public version of this decision.  Once we receive that and have more details, we will conduct a podcast with Wiley Law to discuss what comes next.  

Kingtom has clearly injured our market since it became active.  So, seeing this result is good.  However, what is better is the precedent we are setting.  It is clear that China intends to build more facilities like Kingtom in other developing nations as a part of its One Belt One Road program.  By standing up in a big way to confront Kingtom, we send the signal to China that we will fight these operations if they intend to violate U.S. trade law and, specifically, our orders.  

The AEC is currently working on six different Enforce and Protect Act (EAPA) cases involving some form of trade law violations.  Since these are active investigations, I cannot comment further about the details.  I can report that they are all heading in the right direction.  Our additional funding for trade enforcement has allowed us to fight more of these cases.  I will keep you as up to date as I am allowed until the final decision is published.  We are close to the end on a couple of them, and I hope to be able to report those to you next month.

We continue to field reports about cheap Chinese metal finding its way into the U.S.  We will discuss this issue in greater detail when we meet in San Antonio next month at the 73rd Annual Meeting and Leadership Conference.  We have set aside time late Thursday afternoon for us to huddle up and discuss this issue, and others in an open forum with U.S. AEC Extruder Members.  Keep sending your reports to me about what you are seeing in the market.

The Biden Administration has opened itself up for comments regarding the 232 Aluminum Tariffs.  The AEC is working with its attorneys in this matter to develop our filing.  We absolutely need to have those extrusion tariffs put back in place.  Imports have risen as a percentage of our market, and this rise occurred after those tariffs were lifted.  Our position is clear.  We oppose the 232 generally, but if the administration plans to keep it in place, our industry must have offsetting tariffs.

Last, but not least, is our Sunset Review.  Now is the time to get your company’s data into our attorneys at Wiley Law.  They will aggregate the data and use it to formulate our filing as we seek another five-year extension of our orders.  We only get one shot at this.  So, do not delay in getting the data to Wiley.  Without it, we have no case!  Our filing is due in March, so time is of the essence.  If you have any questions about this, please let me know.

Your support is what makes these results possible.  I want to thank you for that.  Now, let’s come together and prepare to win the Sunset Review and keep our industry free and fair.


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