U.S. International Trade Commission Finds That the U.S. Industry is Materially Injured By Dumped and Subsidized Imports of Rebar from Mexico and Turkey

In a significant victory for U.S. producers of steel concrete reinforcing bar (rebar), the United States International Trade Commission (ITC) today found that the U.S. rebar industry is materially injured by reason of unfairly traded imports of rebar from Mexico and Turkey.  All six commissioners voted in the affirmative. 

The ITC determination is in response to a September 4, 2013 petition filed, with the support of the United Steelworkers, by the Rebar Trade Action Coalition (RTAC), a coalition of five major U.S. rebar manufacturers in the United States.  The petition alleged that unfairly dumped rebar from Mexico and Turkey and subsidized rebar from Turkey was injuring the U.S. industry and threatening the U.S industry with additional injury.

Alan H. Price, chair of Wiley Rein’s International Trade Practice and lead counsel to the RTAC, commended the determination.  “We are very pleased with the ITC’s results, which confirm that unfairly traded imports of rebar from Mexico and Turkey are harming U.S. producers and workers.”

As a result of the ITC’s affirmative injury determination, the U.S. Department of Commerce will now impose antidumping (AD) and countervailing duty (CVD) orders against Mexican and Turkish producers of rebar.  AD margins on Mexican imports range from 20.58 percent to 66.70 percent, while the CVD margin on Turkish imports is 1.25 percent.

Leo W. Gerard, president of the United Steelworkers (USW), stated, “Increased volumes of unfairly traded Turkish and Mexican rebar have taken a devastating toll on the domestic industry, its workers, and their families.  These duty orders on imports will help stop flooding our market, taking our sales, and killing our jobs.”  President Gerard testified before the ITC to say that the U.S. rebar industry is critical to American workers where there are lost jobs and reduced hours at rebar facilities in Oklahoma, New Jersey, and Texas.