A Very Unique Fair Trade Update

I have worked on the Fair Trade case against China for over six years.  This is the first report I’ve written during a time in which trade was NOT the most significant issue we face as an industry.  Without question, the COVID-19 crisis has taken center stage and appears to remain our nation’s key focus for quite some time.  Supply chain disruptions in the U.S. and across the globe have impacted trade in a way that has rallied some manufacturers to re-shore their supply.  Unfortunately, with business activity at near record lows, we simply are not realizing the benefit of that shift…yet.  Once we come out on the other side of this crisis will we see our customers return to their foreign suppliers, or will they decide the risks inherent in global trade are no longer worth the financial benefit?  We shall see.

In the meantime, we do have updates, and good news, related to our case.  As you may recall, in the Meridian appliance handle remand proceedings, Commerce issued its second remand redetermination pursuant to the Court of Appeals Federal Circuit decision finding the appliance handles with plastic end caps attached to be assemblies, but still subject to the scope of the orders.  The Department of Commerce (DOC) determined that the extruded aluminum portion of the assembly is subject to the scope and that the product is not excluded as final finished merchandise.  We have been leveraging this favorable decision in pending scope proceedings while waiting for a final decision from the Court of International Trade.  The court finally issued an opinion sustaining Commerce’s second remand redetermination.  In its decision, the court explains that Meridian and Whirlpool (who intervened in this case) have not and may not successfully contest the remand redetermination because they failed to exhaust administrative remedies by not commenting on Commerce’s draft remand results, and they also waived any objection to the final remand because they did not file any comments with the court once Commerce filed the second remand redetermination.  This decision can be appealed, and the deadline to do so is June 5, 2020.  We will keep our eyes on this very important decision.

Commerce has released its final results in the 8th anti-dumping Administrative Review.   In October of 2019, we rescinded our review request for 205 companies for which no other party had requested review. Commerce found that the remaining 52 companies subject to the review failed to demonstrate eligibility for a separate rate and is thus part of the China-wide entity, for which the current rate is 86.01 percent.   These rates have held up for several years.

We are continuing to evaluate the import trends from problem countries relative to demand and performance of the industry. Several of you have expressed interest in continuing data gathering and the necessary follow up, but in order to continue we need greater participation from the industry.  It is important we collect this data so we are in a position to act quickly should the environment persist or worsen.  If you are interested and willing to supply data, please contact me so I can get you connected.

One scope challenge we are following closely is the Reflection Window case.   Reflection Window resubmitted its scope request on January 9, 2020, in response to the DOC’s supplemental questionnaire of September 23, 2019. Its original request fell under the “finished goods kits” exclusion, and it has resubmitted under that exclusion but indicated that it also intends to submit an exclusion request under the “finished merchandise” exclusion. The Department issued a second supplemental questionnaire to Reflection on March 11, 2020, and Reflection again resubmitted its request on March 16, 2020. We filed comments on March 31, 2020, and the current deadline for the Department to issue a scope ruling or initiate a formal inquiry is April 30, 2020.  We shall see if Commerce holds to the schedule.

Another key scope challenge we are following involves solar mounting systems.  We are leveraging the Meridan Appliance Handle decision in an effort to persuade Commerce to reverse its earlier position that solar mounting systems are final and complete finished products. On March 26, 2020, we met with the Department via videoconference and discussed pending scope proceedings for certain components in solar panel mounting systems, namely the Schletter grounding clamps proceeding and the CCM solar panel mounts proceeding.  Andy Curland and I were on the call. It went well, and the Department has extended the scope determination deadline in the Schletter proceeding to May 11, 2020 and the deadline in the CCM proceeding to May 14, 2020.

The balances of our efforts this month have been directly related to the COVID-19 crisis.  Working with Wiley Law, the AEC developed templates of letters that can be sent to your local lawmakers making the case that the aluminum extrusion industry is an essential industry, and letters your employees can carry to/from work in case they are stopped in transit.  You can find these resources and other important news and links at AEC.org/COVID-19-resources.  

Even during a time when trade is not our key focus, it is important that you know that we have not taken our eye off the ball.  We will continue to work the issues and alert you of important developments.  Thank you for your continued support and dedication to the AEC even during these difficult times.