Wiley Rein on Commerce Department's Groundbreaking Decision to Apply TPEA Provision in Trade Case Against OCTG Imports from Korea

WASHINGTON, April 12, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- In a trailblazing and important decision released yesterday, the U.S. Department of Commerce applied its authority under the recently enacted Trade Preferences Extension Act of 2015 (TPEA) to increase the antidumping duties calculated on Korean imports of oil country tubular goods (OCTG). Commerce found that a "particular market situation" under the TPEA exists in Korea such that the costs of Korean OCTG production are distorted and warrant an adjustment to the antidumping duties applied on these imports to the United States.

"We are thankful to the Administration for its efforts to fully and aggressively enforce the new law," said Alan H. Price, chair of Wiley Rein's International Trade Practice and counsel to Petitioner Maverick Tube Corporation.

Before the TPEA, U.S. trade law provided no means for the agency to account for inherent distortions affecting producers in a foreign country. The new provision gave Commerce an important tool to modify dumping calculations and address these distortions. As Commerce stated in the decision, "Maverick's allegations of particular market situations in the instant review are the first such allegations filed since the enactment of the TPEA."

Yesterday's decision marked a significant step in the use of this new provision to vigorously enforce U.S. trade laws and provide much-needed trade relief to U.S. industries. Mr. Price added, "the use of the new particular market situation provision in the Korean OCTG case finally allows the Department to account for distortions such as those caused by steel subsidies and persistent overcapacity problems in China and Korea. The Department's decision is a significant victory that will aid American industries going forward."

CONTACT: Patrica O'Connell, 1-202-7194532, [email protected]

SOURCE Wiley Rein LLP

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