On Wednesday, the U.S. Commerce Departmen t said it imposed duties on Mexican structural steel after making a preliminary determination that producers had dumped fabricated structural steel on the U.S. market at prices below fair market value .
The department said it imposed duties of up to 31% on Mexican structural steel and will begin collecting cash deposits for imports based on those rates.
The Commerce Department is scheduled to release final anti-dumping duties in its fabricated structural steel investigation on or about Jan. 24, 2020. The U.S. International Trade Commission needs to find that American steel fabricators suffered injury from Mexican imports for the duties to be locked in place for a five-year period.
Mexico’s Economy Ministry
said the duties imposed on some Mexican structural steel are part of a “normal investigation (...) when an industry feels it is being affected by imports that use unfair practices , such as dumping or subsidies .”
Furthermore, Mexico’s Economy Ministry said that “the investigation in question is ongoing and the final outcome from the Commerce Department is expected at the end of January 2020.”
The Economy Ministry said it would continue to support the affected Mexican firms.
It also underscored that the new duties have no relation to 25% tariffs on imported steel and 10% tariffs on imported aluminum that Trump imposed in March 2018 based on national security grounds. Mexico was exempted from those tariffs in May.
In 2018, U.S. imports of fabricated structural steel were valued at USD $622.4 million from Mexico , Commerce said.
The products covered by the investigation are prefabricated from beams, girders, columns plates , and flanges for erection or assembly into structures , such as buildings , parking decks , hospitals , arenas , and ports . The investigation excludes concrete reinforcing bar structures , steel bridge sections , pre-fabricated steel buildings , and steel utility poles , among other products.
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