Groundwood AD/CVD Duties Lowered; Newspaper Alliance Still Upset
The Commerce Department sharply raised countervailing duties against the Resolute Company's exports of Canadian uncoated groundwood paper, and lowered both the antidumping and countervailing duties against Catalyst, while leaving other companies' CVD rates largely unchanged.
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White Birch faces no penalties; Kruger has 9.53 percent CVD, down 0.4%; and importers buying from Resolute must now pay 9.81%. Catalyst, the only company that has an antidumping penalty, now has a combined deposit of 20.26%. All other companies' imports will face 8.54% duties because of the calculated subsidies.
"This was a complicated and unique case. The Department worked hard to address the arguments raised, and I am satisfied that the final determinations appropriately targets bad actors,” Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said in a press release Aug 2. "Today’s decisions are the culmination of an open and transparent process which ensured a full and fair assessment of the specific facts of this case."
The preliminary penalties meant newspapers were paying 20 percent more for newsprint, and the outcry from the industry led to legislation being introduced in both chambers pf Congress that would completely roll back the penalties if passed (see 1805140071).
News Media Alliance CEO David Chavern issued a statement that said, "We believe the final determination does not solve the underlying problem. These taxes on Canadian imports for newsprint, which have been collected during in the preliminary phase, have already caused job losses at newspapers and resulted in less news and information being distributed in local communities." He called for the International Trade Commission to find that domestic newsprint producers face no harm from Canadian sellers.
Commerce said if the ITC decides there was injury, it will instruct CBP to resume collection of CVD cash deposits. The ITC final determinations are expected Sept. 17, Commerce said.
In 2017, imports of uncoated groundwood paper from Canada were valued at an estimated $1.21 billion.