The US Department of Commerce has announced the affirmative final determinations in the antidumping duty (AD) and countervailing duty (CVD) investigations of imports of aluminum foil from China.

This determination and investigation is not related to the Section 232 aluminum tariffs that President Donald Trump announced last week, but has risen to the agenda of US-China economic dialog.

Commerce determined that exporters from China sold aluminum foil in the United States at 48.64 to 106.09 percent less than fair value. Commerce also determined that China is providing unfair subsidies to its producers of aluminum foil at rates of 17.17 to 80.97 percent.

As a result of these decisions, Commerce will instruct US Customs and Border Protection to collect cash deposits from importers of aluminum foil based on the final rates.

In 2016, imports of aluminum foil from China were valued at $389 million.

The petitioner is the Aluminum Association Trade Enforcement Working Group.

The AD and CVD laws provide US businesses and workers with an internationally accepted mechanism to seek relief from the harmful effects of dumping unfairly priced and unfairly subsidized imports into the United States. From January 20, 2017, through February 26, 2018, the Commerce Department initiated 102 antidumping and countervailing duty investigations, a 96 percent increase from 52 in the previous period. The Commerce Department currently maintains 424 antidumping and countervailing duty orders which provide relief to American companies and industries impacted by unfair trade.

If the US International Trade Commission (ITC) finds that US industry was injured by the dumping and subsidies, Commerce will issue AD and CVD orders. If the ITC declines to make such a determination, the investigations will be terminated and no orders will be issued.

Foreign companies that price their products in the US market below the cost of production or below prices in their home markets are subject to AD duties. Foreign companies that receive financial assistance from foreign governments that benefits the production of goods from foreign companies and is limited to specific enterprises or industries, or is contingent either upon export performance or upon the use of domestic goods over imported goods, are subject to CVD duties.