Vietnamese steel pipes are at risk of being investigated by the US against tax evasion

The products mentioned by the US Department of Commerce (DOC) are square/rectangular steel pipes and round carbon steel pipes with welded seams, mainly under HS codes 7306.61 and 7306.30 – imported by the Trade Remedies Administration, said the US Department of Commerce (DOC) from Vietnam.

The plaintiffs include large steel pipe manufacturers in the US such as Nucor Corporation, Bull Moose Tube, Maruichi Steel Corporation… These enterprises allege that Vietnam imports hot rolled steel from China and Korea as raw materials. mainly to produce steel pipes, then simple processing and processing into steel pipes and exported to the US. The move is to evade the respective trade remedy tax that the US is applying to China and South Korea.

The US has imposed anti-dumping duties on square/rectangular steel pipes and welded round carbon steel pipes imported from China at rates of more than 69-86% and 249-265%, respectively; anti-subsidy tax is 30-616% and 2.2-201% since 2008. For Korea, the anti-dumping duty on round carbon steel pipe applied by the US is 4.91-11.63% since 1992. .

According to data from the US International Trade Commission (ITC), last year, the total export value of Vietnam’s investigated products to the US was about 57.6 million USD.

According to US regulations, within 30 days of receiving the application, the DOC will issue a decision to initiate the case. Accordingly, the Trade Remedies Department recommends that Vietnamese enterprises review the export activities of steel pipes under investigation to the US. Businesses also need to study and understand the US regulations and procedures for anti-tax evasion investigation…

Recently, Vietnam’s Ministry of Industry and Trade also noted a rapid increase in the number of cases related to trade remedies. By the end of the first quarter of 2022, Vietnam’s exports have been the subject of 212 foreign trade remedy investigations. In particular, cases of investigation against evasion of trade remedies account for 25 cases and tend to increase in the context of the US-China trade conflict and when Vietnam joins many new generation FTAs ​​such as CPTPP, EVFTA.

Being investigated by foreign countries for evading trade remedies, origin fraud and illegal transshipment will lead to negative impacts on genuine Vietnamese manufacturing and exporting enterprises. At the same time, this also reduces the competitiveness of the whole economy in the context that Vietnam is participating in a series of FTAs ​​with high requirements on origin.

Therefore, along with early warning of trade remedy cases for enterprises to be proactive, the Ministry of Industry and Trade also recommends that enterprises should be cautious and follow the regulations of the export market to avoid risks.

Duc Minh