The biggest news to hit the trade case came last month. The Department of Justice (DOJ) filed a complaint against Perfectus seeking $1.5 Billion in unpaid duties for the fake pallets exported to the United States. The DOJ didn’t pull any punches in their submission. From the complaint, the DOJ stated, “Zhongtian Liu, a Chinese national, is the founder and chairman of China Zhongwang, one of the world’s largest industrial aluminum extrusion companies. Zhongtian Liu controls and is effectively the owner of Perfectus Aluminum, Inc. (“Perfectus”). Between 2011 and at least 2014, Zhongtian Liu used Perfectus to illegally import more than 2.1 million aluminum “pallets” from China into the United States, as described in detail below.2 The “pallets” were manufactured by China Zhongwang and/or its affiliates and “sold” to Perfectus by several intermediary entities, including Dalian Liwang Trade Co., Ltd., Zhongwang Investment Group, and Yingkou Quianxiang Trading. Many of these intermediary entities are or were owned and operated during the relevant period by members of Zhongtian Liu’s family or his close associates.”
Furthermore, the complaint reveals the scope of the scheme by reporting, “In total, the predecessor entities imported approximately 2,190,000 aluminum “pallets” into the United States from China during this period in an effort to avoid AD/CVD.” Clearly, the size of this operation is something never before witnessed by our industry, and the complaint settles many questions from the market about what the government was going to do with this issue.
Elsewhere, beyond the fireworks, we continue to work on our administrative reviews. For this year, we saw the Department of Commerce’s preliminary ruling to set rates at 86% for the CVD case, and 20% on the dumping case. We have every confidence that these rates will be upheld when the DOC announces its final ruling this December (or earlier).
And finally, after many months of speculation, the judge in the curtain wall appeal has decided to hold a hearing early next month. You can read more about this case, and how you can support this measure here. This is an incredibly important issue and one we simply cannot afford not to support. The Curtain Wall Coalition has sought help from the market to cover legal costs. They have done a good job, but we really need the industry to step up now.
It’s not every month that we can report such dramatic news as the DOJ complaint against Perfectus. So, we should a raise a glass and salute the result of our hard work in bringing this scheme to justice. Moving forward, we should feel confident as we work our way a little further down the rabbit’s hole in an effort to confront the other schemers we know that are actively and negatively impacting our industry. And they should know, we will find them and bring them to justice no matter how big or small.
Furthermore, the complaint reveals the scope of the scheme by reporting, “In total, the predecessor entities imported approximately 2,190,000 aluminum “pallets” into the United States from China during this period in an effort to avoid AD/CVD.” Clearly, the size of this operation is something never before witnessed by our industry, and the complaint settles many questions from the market about what the government was going to do with this issue.
Elsewhere, beyond the fireworks, we continue to work on our administrative reviews. For this year, we saw the Department of Commerce’s preliminary ruling to set rates at 86% for the CVD case, and 20% on the dumping case. We have every confidence that these rates will be upheld when the DOC announces its final ruling this December (or earlier).
And finally, after many months of speculation, the judge in the curtain wall appeal has decided to hold a hearing early next month. You can read more about this case, and how you can support this measure here. This is an incredibly important issue and one we simply cannot afford not to support. The Curtain Wall Coalition has sought help from the market to cover legal costs. They have done a good job, but we really need the industry to step up now.
It’s not every month that we can report such dramatic news as the DOJ complaint against Perfectus. So, we should a raise a glass and salute the result of our hard work in bringing this scheme to justice. Moving forward, we should feel confident as we work our way a little further down the rabbit’s hole in an effort to confront the other schemers we know that are actively and negatively impacting our industry. And they should know, we will find them and bring them to justice no matter how big or small.
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