Cambria has filed critical circumstances allegations with the Department of Commerce (Commerce) and the International Trade Commission (ITC) to stop the surge of Chinese quartz surface products imports into the U.S. following Cambria’s April 2018 filing of antidumping (AD) and countervailing (CVD) duty petitions.
Imports of quartz surface products from China increased by 81 percent after Cambria filed its petitions at Commerce and ITC, exceeding Commerce’s 15 percent threshold for supporting a finding of critical circumstances. Both Commerce and the ITC must make affirmative findings of critical circumstances for AD/CVD duties to be applied retroactively.
This news follows an announcement from Commerce that preliminary countervailing duties ranging from 34.38 percent to 178.45 percent would be imposed on quartz surface products from China. Its preliminary determination for the antidumping investigation and announcement of additional antidumping duties are due in November 2018.
An affirmative critical circumstances determination would apply the 34.38 percent to 178.45 percent countervailing duties to imports that entered the U.S. on or after June 23, 2018. If Commerce makes a preliminary antidumping determination, preliminary antidumping duties would be additionally due on imports that entered the U.S. on or after approximately Aug. 15, 2018. These rates are in addition to the Section 301 tariffs announced by the U.S., which took effect on Sept. 24, 2018.
“Cambria is taking this action to stop China’s illegal attempts to flood the market before the imposition of antidumping and countervailing duty orders. Chinese producers and U.S. importers are on notice; substantial duties may be required for any quartz imports since June 2018,” says Marty Davis, president and CEO of Cambria. “We at Cambria and our partners in the industry will continue to stand together to fight back against the illegal efforts to use unfair and unlawful trade practices to exploit the U.S. market.”
Cambria petitions allege that the increase in Chinese imports has injured the domestic industry and threatens further damage if duties to offset China’s unfair trade practices are not imposed. Commerce is scheduled to issue preliminary antidumping determinations in November 2018. If both Commerce and the ITC make final affirmative determinations in their investigations, final duties could be imposed in May or June 2019.