Federal Court Releases Decision on Chinese Plywood Imports

The U.S. Court of International Trade released its public decision upholding the International Trade Commission’s (ITC’s) core findings that Chinese and domestic plywood differ so significantly that the ITC was correct to conclude that imports from China had no impact on the domestic industry’s competitive and financial position.

This decision is in keeping with arguments made by the American Alliance for Hardwood Plywood (AAHP) and its members, who said the domestic antidumping and countervailing duty complaint should be thrown out because fundamental differences in the Chinese and domestic products mean the Chinese product cannot cause any competitive harm to domestic producers. The ITC unanimously agreed, effectively terminating the November 2013 trade case.

According to AAHP, the court did send the case back to the ITC to specifically address the Commerce Department’s final antidumping duty levels as well as the countervailing duty findings; however, the court only ordered the ITC to provide further explanation on these issues and did not authorize the ITC to revisit its core finding that Chinese plywood had no impact on the domestic plywood industry.

For more information, visit cit.uscourts.gov.