Recently, in the first trial of the anti-dumping and anti-subsidy cases filed by The US against forged steel pipe fittings imported from China, the US Department of Commerce finally ruled that Both-Well (Taizhou) Steel Fittings, Co., Ltd. (Both-Well Taizhou) represented by JT&N as the attorney would be granted the lowest tariff rate.
Since President Trump came to power, the U.S. government has vigorously pursued the U.S. first trade protectionism policy, and continued to identify China as a so-called non-market economy country during the anti-dumping investigation, artificially pushing up the tariff rate for Chinese respondents. Under this tremendous pressure, JT&N made a successful surrogate defense for Both-Well Taizhou by persuading the US Department of Commerce to choose Bulgaria as a surrogate country, effectively reducing the normal value of the products under investigation, and thus gaining the lowest anti-dumping tariff rate. It is also the only case with a single-digit dumping margin since President Trump came to power.
In addition, for the multinational corporation method proposed by the American applicant, i.e., the unreasonable claim of citing the relevant data of Both-Well Taiwan as the normal value of Both-Well Taizhou, JT&N conducted in-depth researches and made a comprehensive defense, and finally persuaded the US Department of Commerce to completely reject the applicant’s request for use of the multinational corporation method.
Result of the first trial of the anti-dumping case
On October 2, 2018, the US Department of Commerce finally awarded that Both-Well Taizhou would be granted an 8% dumping margin, while another mandatory respondent would be granted a punitive tariff rate by the US Department of Commerce; and that Chinese enterprises subject to separate rates would enjoy a tariff rate of 8% as Both-Well Taizhou would, while other Chinese enterprises should pay tariff at a rate of 142.72%.
Comparison of the results of U.S. anti-dumping investigations against the same products imported from Italy and Taiwan:
Italy: Two mandatory respondents were granted a tariff rate of 80.2%, and all other Italian enterprises were granted a tariff rate of 49.43%;
Taiwan: The US Department of Commerce has earlier identified a tariff rate of 116.17% for all Taiwanese businesses.
Since then, JT&N has helped Both-Well Taizhou obtain the lowest global tariff rate in the first trial of the anti-dumping case filed by The US against the forged steel pipe fittings imported from China, Italy and Taiwan.
It is worth mentioning that between January 21, 2017 on which Trump took office as President of the United States and October 2, 2018 on which the final award of the anti-dumping case filed by the US against the forged steel pipe fittings imported from China was rendered, in the 14 anti-dumping cases of first instance against different products imported from China filed by and having an award (including the primary and final award) rendered by the US Department of Commerce, the tariff rate granted to Chinese enterprises was between 27.27% and 370.04%, indicating an extremely severe defense situation. It seems more difficult for Both-Well Taizhou to make such achievements under such unfavorable conditions.
First trial of the anti-subsidy case
According to the final award of the anti-subsidy case filed by The US against the forged steel pipe fittings imported from China which was issued at the same time, Both-Well Taizhou won a tariff rate as low as 13.41%, the level for all other Chinese enterprises. Therefore, the combination of the anti-dumping and anti-subsidy tariffs for Both-Well Taizhou was only 21.41%, which was still lower than the tariff rate imposed on forged steel pipe fitting enterprises in Italy and Taiwan.
This successful result will not only help Both-Well Taizhou successfully maintain its position in the American market, but also help it further consolidate and expand its products’ market share in the United States.
The project was jointly completed by the trade teams of JT&N Beijing and JT&N Shanghai, which is led by Senior Partners Chen Yang and Zheng Xu and Senior Advisor Yazhou Wu, and consists of Lawyers Yifan Wu, Xiaodan Li and Siyi Wang. JT&N will base itself in Beijing and Yangtze River Delta economic belt and radiate to trade clients with large export demands in North China, East China and South China so as to escort Chinese enterprises in “going out in a smooth and safe manner, and to use its best efforts to help Chinese enterprises achieve due fairness and justice in the international arena.
Since January, 2017, in the face of the extremely severe international situation, JT&N has been one of the law firms that have made the most achievements in defending Chinese enterprises against the anti-dumping and anti-subsidy investigation conducted by the US. Recently, we have helped Chinese enterprises achieve the following successful results:
On October 6, 2017, we helped Beijing Tianhai Industry Co., Ltd. and its affiliates, in the 5-year anti-dumping lawsuit filed by the US against the gas cylinders imported from China, overturn before an American court the US Department of Commerce’s award of the existence of dumping behavior identified through original investigation. The court finally concluded that gas cylinders imported from this Chinese enterprise to the US did not constitute a dumping, and thereby the enterprise did not have to pay anti-dumping duties and got refunded the anti-dumping duties paid.
On February 8, 2018, in the third administrative review of the anti-dumping case filed by the US against xanthan gums imported from China, we helped Hulunbeier Fufeng Biotechnology Co., Ltd. and its affiliates win zero tariff rate, achieving the absolute victory for the third consecutive time. In the previous first and second reviews, Fufeng Group has achieved the excellent results of zero tariff rate for two consecutive times. On September 18, 2018, after five years of court proceedings, JT&N helped Fufeng Group obtain the zero tariff rate as decided in the first trial. The US Department of Commerce eventually revoked its anti-dumping tariff order. Fufeng Group gained the absolute success in this lawsuit.
On July 6, 2018, we absolutely succeeded in defending the anti-dumping damage lawsuit filed by the US against PTFE products imported from China and India.