US Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross has announced the affirmative final determinations in the antidumping duty (AD) investigations of imports of carbon and alloy steel wire rod from Belarus, Russia, and the United Arab Emirates.

The Commerce Department determined that exporters from Belarus, Russia, and the UAE sold wire rod in the United States at 84.10 – 756.93 percent less than fair value.

“The United States is dedicated to free, fair, and reciprocal trade with these countries, and this case was decided strictly on a full and fair assessment of the facts,” said Ross. “The Department of Commerce is committed to protecting US companies being hurt by foreign manufacturers that refuse to play fair.”

As a result of the decisions, Commerce will instruct US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to collect cash deposits from importers of wire rod from Belarus (280.02 percent), Russia (436.80 – 756.93 percent), and the UAE (84.10 percent) based on these final rates. Since Commerce also found that critical circumstances exist with respect to all Russian exporters/producers, Commerce will instruct CBP to collect cash deposits retroactively on all entries of wire rod from Russia for a period beginning 90 days prior to the preliminary determinations.

In 2016, imports of wire rod from Belarus, Russia and the UAE were valued at an estimated $10.4 million, $32.3 million and $7 million, respectively.

The petitioners in these investigations are Gerdau Ameristeel US Inc. (FL), Nucor Corporation (NC), Keystone Consolidated Industries (TX), and Charter Steel (WI).

The AD law provides US businesses and workers with an internationally accepted mechanism to seek relief from the harmful effects of unfairly dumped imports into the United States. From January 20, 2017, through November 7, 2017, Commerce initiated 77 AD and countervailing duty (CVD) investigations – a 61 percent increase from 48 in the previous year. Commerce currently maintains 412 AD and CVD orders which provide relief to American companies and industries impacted by unfair trade.

If the US International Trade Commission (ITC) makes affirmative final injury determinations, Commerce will issue AD orders. If the ITC makes negative final determinations of injury, the investigations will be terminated and no orders will be issued.