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The Data Tells the Story

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 Over the last few weeks, the U.S. aluminum extrusion members in the AEC have been providing data to our legal team at Wiley Law.  Wiley has pulled the numbers together, and we are ready to update the members involved in the process.  To no one’s surprise, our industry continues to suffer escalating injury due to imports.  Now, having data through the third quarter of 2022, our next task will be to collect the fourth quarter’s data, too.  Everyone expects that data to validate a continuing deterioration in the domestic injury’s share of U.S. demand.  So, what is next?  The AEC will host a webinar on January 27th at 11 AM Central Time.  This meeting is for U.S. AEC Extruder Members only, and they can register for the event here. 

In parallel to our efforts investigating a possible new trade case, we have been in ongoing discussions with the Department of Commerce (DOC) seeking the reinstatement of the Aluminum 232 extrusion tariffs.  At this point, feedback from the DOC has been favorable.  While not committing to restore the duties, the DOC is saying all the right things to lead us to believe they will be re-instated.  We will have an update on this during the January 27th webinar.

The outcome of these two issues will set the agenda and pace of the AEC’s trade activity in 2023.  We find ourselves in the unenviable position of ‘catching a falling knife’.  Our industry is suffering injury from imports and the data tells us it is getting worse.  Couple that with a slowing economy, and we have a perfect storm for layoffs and plant closures.  We have come too far not to confront the surge in imports, stabilize our industry, and get back to the growth we have enjoyed for years.

Meanwhile, our case against China is still very active.  We have two very important matters that are now in the courts.  The decision in each will have a significant bearing on the interpretation of our scope.  The first is in the door threshold arena.  Once again, the Court of International Trade (CIT) ruled against the industry in the Worldwide and Columbia Aluminum cases.  The CIT forced the Department of Commerce to go back and change their original decision, which was that these are parts subject to our duties.  The DOC then went back, and under protest, changed their ruling.  That is an important step.  Because the DOC changed its ruling under protest, the matter can now be appealed to the Circuit Court.  Over time, we have had great success with that court, and our confidence is high that the AEC and the DOC will win the appeal.  Our confidence stems from the fact that our orders explicitly state that door thresholds are covered.  The second case involves solar mounts.  This case is in the Circuit Court, having had the same fate as the door thresholds at the CIT.  We expect to win based on similar parts in other matters where the higher court has already ruled in favor of the domestic industry.  We will keep you posted as results are known.

There are several new Enforce and Protect Act (EAPA) filings in play.  We have worked hard to meet the standards recently set by Customs.  We simply cannot afford to keep losing these cases.  We are still planning to appeal the EAPA decisions as soon as we can.  The process is working its way to the point when we can file the appeal.  We do expect to put up a good fight.  

And finally, the preliminary results of the countervailing duty (CVD) review are due January 31, 2023, and we are expecting Commerce to apply adverse facts available.  In so doing, Commerce would be essentially holding our tariffs in place at their current levels.  

We clearly have a lot on our plate and undoubtedly 2023 is shaping up to be one of the most important years in our industry’s history.  We certainly changed the trajectory of our industry in 2010 when we filed for trade protection against the Chinese.  Will this year be the time we make the hard decisions and decide to invest in our industry’s future as a Council?  Be sure to join us this March in Palm Desert, CA, at our Annual Meeting & Leadership Conference to join the conversation.  Thank you for your continued support!


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