A coalition of U.S. manufacturers has compiled compelling evidence that certain companies subject to antidumping orders are costing the U.S. Treasury at least $84 million annually due to their deliberate evasion of the antidumping duties. In addition, more than 275 jobs have been lost in the innerspring and hanger industries alone, and additional jobs are threatened by these ongoing schemes to avoid antidumping duties. The information is being presented to Members of Congress, the U.S. Department of Commerce, and U.S. Customs and Border Protection to seek stronger enforcement of existing antidumping orders that are designed to maintain a level playing field for U.S. manufacturers and their workers.
The Coalition for Enforcement of Antidumping and Countervailing Duty Orders consists of several U.S. manufacturers of steel wire products, including steel nails, uncovered innerspring units, steel wire garment hangers, and carbon steel threaded rod, each of which separately petitioned the U.S. Government for relief from unfairly traded imports. Each of these industries, after nearly two years of proceedings before the International Trade Commission and the Department of Commerce, established that foreign companies were selling these products in the U.S. at less than fair value and that these sales were materially injuring U.S. industries; subsequently, Commerce issued antidumping duty orders that levied import duties on these items, in some cases up to 234 percent, as a way to remedy the injury caused by dumped imports.
These U.S. industries have developed compelling evidence detailing how certain foreign manufacturers are evading duties. In some cases, they are shipping these products to the U.S. via third countries and then falsely designating it as the country of origin to evade the duties, a practice termed "transshipment." In other cases, an inconsequential modification is made to the product in third countries to avoid the duties. In yet other situations, false labels displaying a different country of origin are placed on shipments of products actually made in China. There is growing evidence that these evasion schemes are being used in other industries, further threatening jobs and the U.S. economy.
"These schemes are blatant and purposeful," said David Libla, president of Mid Continent Nail and a coalition member. "Not only are they clear evidence of attempts to maintain an unfair advantage in the marketplace, they're also costing taxpayers millions of dollars and reducing job opportunities in this country. We appreciate the efforts of both Congress and the Executive Branch to consider this information and determine how best to enforce these existing orders."
The coalition advocates several administrative and legislative solutions to these evasion schemes, including requiring collection of cash deposits on suspect subject merchandise at points of entry to the United States, stationing at least one Customs and Border Protection official at each of the major seaports and land border crossings to concentrate on enforcement of these orders, incorporating specific enforcement language into the Customs Reauthorization Act and expanding the authority of the Department of Commerce to include investigation of transshipment and other evasion activities.
The Coalition for Enforcement of Antidumping and Countervailing Duty Orders consists of the following companies: M&B Metal Products (Leeds, Ala.), Vulcan Threaded Products (Pelham, Ala.), Leggett & Platt Incorporated (Carthage, Mo.), Mid Continent Nail (Poplar Bluff, Mo.), American Spring Wire Company (Bedford Heights, Ohio) and Insteel Industries (Mt. Airy, N.C.).