As a result of the antidumping (AD) and countervailing (CV) duty administrative reviews, the Commerce Department appears to be poised to increase the AD/CV duties on Canadian softwood lumber entering the United States. Currently, the majority of company-specific combined rates are approximately 9 percent, but that could double come November.
The Department of Commerce has invited interested parties to comment.
Dumping is when foreign manufacturers sell goods in the United States for less than what is deemed to be ‘fair market value.’ Anti-dumping duty is a tariff rate that is levied to ‘level the playing field’ for U.S. industry. Anti-dumping cases are country and company specific. Therefore, known foreign manufacturers have specific case numbers and duty rates assigned. If the manufacturer does not have an individual case number, then the ‘all others’ case rate applies.
Countervailing cases are similar to anti-dumping cases, but they are established when foreign governments provide assistance, such as subsidies and tax breaks, to manufacturers that export into the U.S. market. These cases are also country and company specific.