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Keep That Ram Moving Forward

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By Jason Weber, AEC VP of Government Affairs 

On June 17th, the International Trade Commission (ITC) will issue the Final Producer Questionnaire in the Aluminum Extrusion AD/CVD cases.  The questionnaire is due 30 days after it is issued.  As always, we continue to update membership with Trade Alerts as appropriate to keep them informed.  Beyond the Final Producer Questionnaire, key upcoming dates are the Final Hearing on September 9, 2024, the Final Vote on October 23, 2024, and the Final Determination on November 11, 2024. 

In last month’s essentiALs article and Fair Trade blog post, I outlined the recent Department of Commerce (DOC) changes to the 232 Aluminum Tariffs.  In that article, I outlined the following Harmonized Tariff Schedule (HTS) codes that were removed from the General Approved Exclusions (GAEs):  

  • GAE.1.A: HTS 7609000000 (Aluminum tube or pipe fittings (for example, couplings, elbows, sleeves); 

  • GAE.4.A: HTS 7604210010 (Hollow profiles of aluminum alloy); 

  • GAE.5.A: HTS 7604291010 (Certain profiles of heat-treatable industrial aluminum alloys); 

  • GAE.13.A: HTS 7604295090 (Other aluminum alloy bars, rods, and profiles). 

While the removal of the specific GAEs will not take effect until July 1, exclusion request filings are occurring from the importers of goods under these codes.  Currently, we are building an email communication protocol for communicating these exclusion requests to allow the interested members to file their objections.  Two important points: 1) When the 232 Tariffs were instituted in 2018, we as an industry did not log a significant number of objections with the DOC.  Because of the lack of objections, the aluminum extrusion HTS codes were added to the GAEs; 2) Through our efforts as an industry, we were heard.  Now is the time to make sure our industry’s voice continues to be heard in Washington D.C. 

To ensure I am communicating with you all effectively and efficiently in this matter, I have been sending email communications to every key contact at member companies.  If you are a member company with production facilities in the U.S. and you don’t recall receiving an email from jweber@tso.net please check your spam folder and add me to your safe senders list.  If you are an AEC Extruder Member key contact (and my emails are not in your spam folder) please reach out to me directly at jweber@tso.net and I’ll add you to the list. 

As we all know, extrusions are used in a vast continuum of products and the removal of just a few HTS codes will not solve the import issue.  The AEC will continue to push for the removal of additional HTS codes with the DOC and help to protect the industry from unfairly traded aluminum extrusions. 

A wise person once told me “We’re only making money when the ram is moving forward.”  It is my goal to help you in any way I can – to keep that ram moving forward. 

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