A steel mill in Vietnam (Photo: VNA)Hanoi (VNA) – The US Department of Commerce (DOC) hasannounced preliminary rulings on the circumvention inquiries into Vietnamesecold-rolled steel (CRS) and corrosion-resistant steel (CORE) exports made frommaterials imported from Chinese Taiwan and the Republic of Korea (RoK).
According to the Trade Remedies Authority ofVietnam (TRAV), the US initiated the investigations on August 2, 2018, after ithad imposed anti-dumping and countervailing duties on CRS and CORE productsfrom Taiwan and the RoK since 2016.
The DOC said certain steel products were firstproduced in the RoK and Taiwan, which were then shipped to Vietnam for minorprocessing, and finally exported to the US as CORE and CRS.
The department will temporarily applycircumvention measures against imports of CRS and CORE produced in Vietnamusing Korean- or Taiwanese-origin substrate by collecting cash deposits onthem. The applicable cash deposit rates depend on the origin of the substrateand the type of steel product exported to the US.
However, as these are circumvention probes intoproducts with substrate hailing from the RoK and Taiwan, the CRS and COREproducts made from materials of Vietnam or other countries and territories willnot be subject to those duties, the TRAV noted.
The authority said during the investigations,the Vietnamese Ministry of Industry and Trade has coordinated closely with theVietnam Steel Association and involved businesses to provide information asrequested by the US side. It has also recommended companies devise suitablebusiness strategies, especially switching to using materials made in Vietnam orsources other than the RoK and Taiwan.
The ministry will continue working with relevantparties in the next stages of the investigations to protect rights andlegitimate interests of companies, ensure the adherence to legal regulationsand the World Trade Organisation’s agreements, and prevent circumventing actsand origin fraud, according to the TRAV.
The DOC is expected to announce the finalrulings in September this year.-VNA
VNA
