This month, our update is more forward looking than a review. All eyes are on the 232 Investigation and what policy decisions will come from the President when the report is issued to him later this month. The AEC will issue a trade alert as soon as we hear anything in this regard.
This year, most of our Fair Trade efforts will be focused on trade enforcement. For several months we have collected data and have collaborated with others in an effort to identify those that are working to evade duties through circumvention and transshipment schemes. Members will see a series of announcements in this area in the coming weeks. Just last week, the AEC filed a new circumvention petition on Chinese extrusions being circumvented through Vietnam.
Scope issues are still being pursued in the door threshold and curtain wall cases. Last year’s decision in the curtain wall case in our favor maintains the Curtain Wall Coalition’s winning streak. However, as we have learned by our past experience, the Chinese will likely appeal this decision to the Federal District Court of Appeals. We have already won on this matter there with a similar curtain wall product, so confidence is high. However, it will be expensive and necessary to defend ourselves again. The door threshold case is working its way through the Department of Commerce (DOC) now. As with past scope issues, we are asking the DOC to respect its OWN language in our trade orders, which specifically states that door thresholds are covered by our orders. It is important we win this because a precedent that allows a product to be excluded that is expressly mentioned as covered in our orders would open a “Pandora’s Box” of issues we don’t have to defend today. Also, we are still awaiting the judge’s ruling in our hearing regarding appliance handles. We are confident that we will prevail. The issue is on what grounds the judge will rule in our favor. Depending on that, we may have an opening to go back to the DOC and request they reconsider earlier decisions on many key end uses.
So, this month more than ever, the update is about what may or may not happen in the coming weeks. Tensions are running high given the stakes. We will do all we can to keep you up to date on breaking news.
This year, most of our Fair Trade efforts will be focused on trade enforcement. For several months we have collected data and have collaborated with others in an effort to identify those that are working to evade duties through circumvention and transshipment schemes. Members will see a series of announcements in this area in the coming weeks. Just last week, the AEC filed a new circumvention petition on Chinese extrusions being circumvented through Vietnam.
Scope issues are still being pursued in the door threshold and curtain wall cases. Last year’s decision in the curtain wall case in our favor maintains the Curtain Wall Coalition’s winning streak. However, as we have learned by our past experience, the Chinese will likely appeal this decision to the Federal District Court of Appeals. We have already won on this matter there with a similar curtain wall product, so confidence is high. However, it will be expensive and necessary to defend ourselves again. The door threshold case is working its way through the Department of Commerce (DOC) now. As with past scope issues, we are asking the DOC to respect its OWN language in our trade orders, which specifically states that door thresholds are covered by our orders. It is important we win this because a precedent that allows a product to be excluded that is expressly mentioned as covered in our orders would open a “Pandora’s Box” of issues we don’t have to defend today. Also, we are still awaiting the judge’s ruling in our hearing regarding appliance handles. We are confident that we will prevail. The issue is on what grounds the judge will rule in our favor. Depending on that, we may have an opening to go back to the DOC and request they reconsider earlier decisions on many key end uses.
So, this month more than ever, the update is about what may or may not happen in the coming weeks. Tensions are running high given the stakes. We will do all we can to keep you up to date on breaking news.
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