Washington, DC – The United States on Tuesday (Aug. 28) announced affirmative results of a preliminary investigation, and will instruct US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to collect cash deposits from importers of glycine from China and India.
The Department of Commerce found that exporters received countervailable subsidies ranging from:
China – 144.01 percent India – 3.03 to 26.07 percent
In 2017, US imports of glycine from China and India were valued at an estimated $1.1 million, $6.7 million, and $4.4 million respectively.
The petitioners on whose request the investigations were triggered are GEO Specialty Chemicals, Inc. (Lafayette, IN) and Chattem Chemicals, Inc. (Chattanooga, TN). The Commerce Department is currently scheduled to issue the final determinations on or about November 13, 2018 for China, and January 7, 2019 for India, respectively.
According to the Commerce Department, imports from companies that receive unfair subsidies from their governments in the form of grants, loans, equity infusions, tax breaks, and production inputs are subject to countervailing duties aimed at directly countering those subsidies.
The strict enforcement of US trade law is a primary focus of the Trump Administration. Since the beginning of the current Administration, Commerce has initiated 120 new antidumping and countervailing duty investigations – this is a 186 percent increase from the comparable period in the previous administration.