WASHINGTON—The U.S. Department of Commerce has postponed its final antidumping determination on steel wheels imported from China until Feb. 11.
Commerce initiated its investigation into steel wheels in April 2018, shortly after the U.S. International Trade Commission voted to pursue the petitions for relief from Accuride Corp. and Maxion Wheels Akron L.L.C.
Accuride and Maxion requested countervailing and antidumping duties under Sections 701 and 731 of the Trade Act. The investigation involves steel wheels, discs and rims of 22.5 to 24.5 inches in diameter, which are generally used on commercial vehicles, including tractors, semi-trailers, dump trucks, garbage trucks, concrete mixers and buses.
In August and again in October 2018, Xiamen Sunrise Wheel Group Co. Ltd. asked Commerce to extend the time for issuance of its final antidumping determination by 60 days, as allowed under federal law. Accuride and Maxion replied to Sunrise's petition at the end of October, urging the department to limit the extension to not more than 45 days.
Sunrise was a mandatory respondent in the Commerce investigation, and accounts for "a significant portion" of the investigation into steel wheel sales at less than fair value, Commerce said in a Feb. 1 Federal Register notice.
Commerce proposed antidumping duties of up to 231.7 percent in the steel wheel investigation. In countervailing duties, it proposed margins ranging from 48.75 to 172.51 percent.
The ITC scheduled a hearing on the steel wheel investigation on Jan. 8, 2019, but was forced to postpone it because of the partial government shutdown. The hearing has yet to be rescheduled, an ITC spokeswoman said.
The Commerce Department notice may be found at https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2019-02-01/pdf/2019-00752.pdf.