Wauconda, Illinois -- This week, the Aluminum Extruders Council (AEC, through the Aluminum Extrusions Fair Trade Committee (AEFTC), filed a new circumvention petition against China Zhongwang Holdings Limited and its extensive network of affiliates, asking the Department of Commerce to find that Chinese aluminum extrusions produced by Zhongwang that are converted in Vietnam before being exported to the United States are circumventing the antidumping (AD) and countervailing (CVD) duty orders on aluminum extrusions from China.
Following the Department’s determinations in December 2016 and June 2017 that Zhongwang’s fake pallets, which had initially been exported to the United States as part of a scheme to evade AD/CVD duties were subject to the orders, Zhongwang shipped substantial quantities of these pallets to its affiliate in Vietnam, Global Vietnam Aluminum Co., Ltd, to continue to circumvent and evade the orders. The AEFTC’s petition provides evidence that Zhongwang’s affiliate in Vietnam is changing the shape and form of these Chinese extrusions in minor ways and exporting them back to the United States and claiming the origin is Vietnamese, to circumvent the orders.
The petition is a country-wide allegation that would apply to other Vietnamese producers that also convert the circumvented Chinese aluminum extrusions before exporting to the United States. The evidence indicates that substantial quantities of Chinese aluminum extrusions are being shipped to Vietnam directly from China as well as from various transshipment points across the globe for conversion.
“This is an important step for our industry to continue the fight to close these transshipment and circumvention points and fully enforce the orders,” said AEC President Jeff Henderson. “These blatant attempts to evade duties and flood the market with unfairly traded Chinese aluminum extrusions must be halted.”
The AEFTC has asked the Department of Commerce to make a quick decision, finding that all imports of aluminum extrusions from Vietnam that have been produced by insignificantly converting Chinese aluminum extrusions are circumventing the AD/CVD orders on aluminum extrusions from China and should be subject to the Chinese AD/CVD duties.