The Atlas Tube division of Zekelman Industries asked the Commerce Department to ensure that antidumping and countervailing duty orders covering light-walled rectangular tube also apply to octagonal tube, and to retroactively apply duties. The filing targets imports from China, Korea, Mexico and Turkey.

"Octagonal tube is essentially the same as rectangular when it comes to manufacturing methods and costs, and how it's sold," said Tom Muth, President of HSS and Piling at Zekelman Industries. "And it is increasingly being imported and sold for the same application, in solar panel farms. We want Commerce to make clear that foreign interests can't avoid duties by putting a few extra sides in their tubes."

Zekelman Industries' request today asks for a circumvention ruling and a determination by Commerce that imports of welded light-walled polygonal carbon steel pipe and tube are merely light-walled rectangular pipe and tube that have undergone a minor alteration. If Commerce agrees, the antidumping and countervailing duties now applicable to rectangular tubes would apply retroactively to imports of octagonal or other multi-sided tubes, starting on the date Commerce begins to investigate Zekelman Industries' request. 

"We believe this is the sort of situation President Trump has been talking about, where we need to step up enforcement of existing measures against unfair trade," Muth said. "Since 2014 there has been an increase in the volume of multi-sided tubing imports, and these imports have been displacing U.S.-made product in the domestic market. We are taking this step to ensure that unfairly traded products do not take jobs from American workers or harm U.S. companies."

Today's allegation was filed through Schagrin Associates, a Washington, D.C.-based international trade law firm. The firm has over 30 years of experience in customs matters and filed the original dumping and subsidies claims against light-walled rectangular pipe and tube in 2007 on behalf of thirteen domestic producers.

Zekelman Industries | www.zekelman.com