On April 30, 2024, the U.S. Department of Commerce (DOC) announced the termination of the scope inquiry concerning steel trailer wheels imported from Vietnam pursuant to section 351.225(f)(6) of the Tariff Act.
Previously, on August 7, 2023, the DOC initiated a scope inquiry into steel trailer wheels imported from Vietnam. Dexstar, a U.S. company and the petitioner in the 2019 U.S. anti-dumping and countervailing duty case on Chinese steel trailer wheels, had requested this inquiry. The request was to determine whether the finished products in Vietnam, made from wheel components (discs or rims) originating in China, fell within the scope of the existing U.S. duties on Chinese products.
On March 15, 2024, based on the information and documents collected during the investigation, the DOC announced a preliminary decision to terminate the inquiry. The decision was due to the finding that Vietnamese companies did not import wheel components (discs or rims) from China to manufacture trailer wheels as alleged by the petitioner. Instead, they produced the wheel discs and rims in Vietnam using Chinese steel sheets. The DOC invited comments from interested parties on this preliminary decision. The petitioner did not oppose the decision but suggested that the DOC consider self-initiating an investigation into potential trade remedy circumvention via assembly or completion in a third country based on the case records (alleging that the products were made from pre-cut Chinese steel sheets). Meanwhile, U.S. importers supported the termination of the inquiry and opposed the petitioner’s suggestion for self-initiation.
The DOC subsequently rejected the petitioner’s self-initiation proposal, citing insufficient evidence.
