China Ceramic Tile Tariffs Begin
WASHINGTON – The U.S. price tags on newly imported ceramic tile from China doubled this week – and that’s literally not half of the adjustments the materials may face before year’s end.
Preliminary tariffs of 103%-222% on Chinese ceramic tile went into effect yesterday, based on a federal Commerce Department ruling on countervailing (subsidized) import duties.
The action comes as part of an unfair-trade petition filed in April by the Coalition for Fair Trade in Ceramic Tile (CFTCT), a group of eight U.S.-based producers of ceramic tile, with the U.S. International Trade Commission (USITC).
The notice in yesterday’s Federal Register, the publication-of-record for the U.S. government, means that U.S. Customs and Border Protection will collect value-based tariffs of 222.24% for products from Temgoo International Trading Ltd., and 103.77% for all other Chinese-made tile.
The action also stops liquidation, or finalization, of any open import actions. In most cases, an import isn’t finalized for months – frequently, a year – after delivery at U.S. ports-of-entry.
The Federal Register notice is the official start of actions from Commerce’s U.S. International Trade Administration (USITA), which made its preliminary ruling on countervailing duties on Sept. 6.
At that time, the USITA also turned down a CFTCT request of critical circumstances on countervailing duties, which would have made the tariffs retroactive for 90 days prior to the preliminary ruling.
The USITA is still investigating anti-dumping charges by the CFTCT on Chinese producers and exporters selling tile at less-than-fair-market value in the United States. The federal agency voted on Aug. 28, based on a CFTCT request, to delay its decision on possible preliminary antidumping tariffs until Nov. 6.
The USITA will make its final determination on both the antidumping and countervailing tariffs by no later than Jan. 21 next year. The cases will then revert back to the USITC for a final decision likely to come in the first quarter of 2020.
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