U.S. extends an investigation of tariff evasion on hardwood plywood imported from Vietnam using materials from China

 The US Department of Commerce (DOC) is extending the deadline for issuing its conclusion on a trade remedy duty evasion investigation into hardwood plywood imported from Vietnam, according to the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT). The DOC now plans to issue the conclusion on October 17.

Currently, the US is applying an anti-dumping duty of 183.36% and an anti-subsidy tax of 22.98% to 194.9% on the product from China. US customs said Vietnam’s hardwood plywood exports to the US increased from 112.3 million USD in 2018 to 226.4 million USD in 2019, 248.5 million USD in 2020, and 356.7 million USD last year. The export turnover expanded by 57.6% in 2021 as compared to the year before the initiation of the investigation.

The DOC’s preliminary conclusions were that plywood from Vietnam using materials from China should be subject to the same anti-dumping and anti-subsidy duties applied to China. The products will be exempt from any duties if the materials are produced in Vietnam or other countries.

Vietnamese exporters and US importers have been allowed to participate in the self-certification mechanism to be excluded from the evasion measure, but the self-certification mechanism is not applied to enterprises that fail to provide information or provide incomplete or inaccurate information as requested by the DOC during the investigation.

Jeffrey Newman is a whistleblower lawyer with the firm Jeff Newman Law and he can be reached at jeff@jeffnewmanlaw.com