U.S. to slap 24 per cent anti-dumping duty on Canadian-made large diameter welded pipes

Photo courtesy of FreeImages.com/John Nyberg.

The United States Department of Commerce threw another punch in its trade war with the rest of the world. On August 21, 2018, the department announced preliminary anti-dumping duties on large-diameter welded pipe from Canada, China, Greece, India, Korea, and Turkey.

According to the Department of Commerce, "exporters from Canada, China, Greece, India, Korea, and Turkey have sold large diameter welded pipe at less than fair value in the United States." The U.S. plans to retaliate by slapping a 24.38 per cent tariff on imports from Canada. In 2017, imports of large diameter welded pipe from Canada were valued at an estimated $29.2 million.

The petitioners are American Cast Iron Pipe Company (Birmingham, AL), Berg Steel Pipe Corp. (Panama City, FL), Berg Spiral Pipe Corp. (Mobile, AL), Dura-Bond Industries (Steelton, PA), Skyline Steel (Parsippany, NJ), and Stupp Corporation (Baton Rouge, LA).

Since Trump took office, Commerce has initiated 120 new anti-dumping duty and countervailing duty investigations, a 216 per cent increase from the comparable period in the previous administration.

This should come as no surprise as earlier this year Trump slapped Canada with steel and aluminum tariff and the Canadian government levied retaliatory duties in response.

Commerce is scheduled to announce the final determinations in January 2019.