U.S. lands dumping duties on Canadian plane imports

Canadian aircraft manufacturer Bombardier called the U.S. Commerce Department’s dumping investigation “an egregious overreach and misapplication of the U.S. trade laws in an apparent attempt to block the C Series aircraft from entering the U.S. market.”    The U.S. Commerce Department will impose preliminary antidumping duties on imports of 100- to 150-seat commercial aircraft from Bombardier and other Canada manufacturers.
   Based on “adverse facts available,” Commerce will a dumping margin of 79.82 percent on these imports. The department has instructed Customs and Border Protection to collect cash deposits from importers of 100- to 150-seat commercial plans from Canada based on this preliminary rate.
   Dumping occurs when a foreign company sells its products in the United States at less than fair market value.
   Interestingly, the petition for the Commerce antidumping duty investigation was a preemptive move by Boeing Corp. against Canadian aircraft manufacturer Bombardier. In April 2016, Atlanta-based Delta Air Lines entered an agreement to purchase new C Series aircraft from Bombardier in deal valued at $5 billion. The planes have yet to be delivered.
   Montreal-based Bombardier called Commerce’s preliminary antidumping duty decision “an egregious overreach and misapplication of the U.S. trade laws in an apparent attempt to block the C Series aircraft from entering the U.S. market.”
   The Canadian aircraft maker also referred to Commerce’s statement that it failed to cooperate with the antidumping investigation as “a disingenuous attempt to distract from the agency’s misguided focus on hypothetical production costs and sales prices for aircraft that will be imported into the United States far in the future.”
  “As we have explained repeatedly to the department, Bombardier cannot provide the production costs for the Delta aircraft for a very simple reason; they have not yet been produced. Commerce’s attempt to create future costs and sales prices by looking at aircraft not imported into the United States is inappropriate and inconsistent with the agency’s past practices,” the company added.
   Commerce is currently scheduled to announce its final antidumping determination in this investigation on Dec. 19.
   If Commerce makes an affirmative final determination of dumping and the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) also makes an affirmative final injury determination, then the department will issue an antidumping order against these Canadian aircraft imports. However, if Commerce makes a negative final determination of dumping or the ITC makes a negative final determination of injury, the investigation will end and no order will be issued.
   On Sept. 26, Commerce also announced preliminary countervailing duties to be imposed on these same Canadian aircraft, as part of the Boeing petition. Using the governments of Canada, Quebec and the United Kingdom and Bombardier’s reported information, Commerce calculated a preliminary subsidy rate of 219.63 percent for Bombardier. If and when Bombardier exports these planes to the United States, CBP will require cash deposits in amounts equal to the preliminary subsidy rate, Commerce said.