Anti-dumping (AD) and countervailing duties (CVD) are intended to protect the U.S. manufacturing industry from foreign manufacturers.

Dumping occurs when foreign manufacturers sell goods in the U.S. at less than fair value. Countervailing cases are when a foreign government provides enough subsidies and tax benefits for their manufacturers to sell their goods more cheaply than U.S. manufacturers.

Both of these situations, dumping and countervailing, lead to foreign undercutting of U.S. manufacturers’ prices.

How are these duties determined?

Anti-dumping duties are calculated at a company-specific level, where the actual duty amount makes up for the gap between foreign manufacturer pricing and fair market value.

Countervailing duties are determined on a country-specific level, and the duty rates counteract the subsidy or foreign government assistance’s value to exactly level the playing field.

Petitioning

The U.S. International Trade Commission and the U.S. Department of Commerce oversee anti-dumping and countervailing duties.

Manufacturers or companies can file petitions to these two bodies if they find a foreign manufacturer selling under fair market value or a foreign government subsidizing manufacturers.  These petitions will need to include:

• General information
• Description of imported goods, the exporters, and the importers
• Subsidy and price information
• Critical circumstances information
• Injury information

More details on these duties and petitioning can be found at the U.S. ITC website:

http://www.usitc.gov/trade_remedy/documents/handbook.pdf

The Commission and Department will review the petition and conduct investigations to determine its validity. They will then instruct U.S. Customs to assess duties accordingly.

Are your products impacted by these duties?

AD/CVD duties are dependent on the country of origin and type of product.  For a comprehensive and official list of goods affected, visit the International Trade Administration’s website here.