Today, the U.S. Department of Commerce announced the affirmative preliminary determinations in the antidumping duty (AD) investigations of imports of rubber bands from China and Thailand, finding that exporters have dumped rubber bands in the United States at margins of 27.27 percent for China, and from 0.00 to 5.86 percent for Thailand.

As a result of today’s decisions, Commerce will instruct U.S. Customs and Border Protection to collect cash deposits from importers of rubber bands from China and Thailand based on these preliminary rates.

In 2017, U.S. imports of rubber bands from China and Thailand were valued at an estimated $4.9 million and $12.1 million, respectively.

The petitioner is Alliance Rubber Company (AR).

The strict enforcement of U.S. trade law is a primary focus of the Trump Administration. Since the beginning of the current Administration, Commerce has initiated 122 new antidumping and countervailing duty investigations – this is a 221 percent increase from the comparable period in the previous administration.

Antidumping and countervailing duty laws provide American businesses and workers with an internationally accepted mechanism to seek relief from the harmful effects of the unfair pricing of imports into the United States. Commerce currently maintains 456 antidumping and countervailing duty orders which provide relief to American companies and industries impacted by unfair trade.

Commerce is scheduled to announce the final determination on or about November 14, 2018 for the China investigation, and on or about January 21, 2019 for the Thailand investigation.

If Commerce makes an affirmative final determination, the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) will be scheduled to make its final injury determinations for China and Thailand on or about December 28, 2018, and on or about March 4, 2018, respectively. If Commerce makes affirmative final determinations of dumping and the ITC makes affirmative final injury determinations, Commerce will issue AD orders. If Commerce makes negative final determinations of dumping or the ITC makes negative final determinations of injury, the investigations will be terminated and no orders will be issued.