Wiley Attorney Says AD/CVD Proposal Likely to Return in Congress Soon
Wiley attorney Tim Brightbill, in a recent webinar on what to expect in trade in 2023, said he expects a bill to make significant changes to antidumping and countervailing duty law to be introduced in Congress soon. The bill, colloquially known as Level the Playing Field Act 2.0, was introduced in the previous Congress by Ohio's two senators. The administration expressed support for the proposal, but it faced skepticism among Republicans in Congress (see 2204220036 and 2104160037).
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Brightbill also covered the implementation of trade-relevant laws that are new, such as the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act. He said CBP has been enforcing it strongly. Importers of complex products such as auto parts, electrical machinery and semiconductors are finding it difficult to show the entire supply chain is outside of the Xinjiang region, he said.
Since the act passed, “we are also seeing changing trade flows,” such as raw materials being moved outside China for further manufacturing, he said. “This will continue to be an area of high focus for the U.S. government and for many companies this year.”
Congress passed the Chips Act to bolster domestic manufacturing of semiconductors, in part because of the effects of a shortage of chips in the wake of the pandemic, but Brightbill said market conditions have changed significantly since the bill passed, and there's now an oversupply of semiconductors -- and concerns that China will produce volumes that are not justified by economic conditions, which could constrain profit for producers of competing products.
For companies hoping to be chosen for U.S. government support, Commerce will likely be asking where raw materials will be sourced, who will control the intellectual property, what the production capacity will be and what type of chips will be produced, the projected cost share with the government and who will handle packaging and testing, Brightbill said.
As far as more administration action on tariffs, the attorney did not foresee a rollback of duties begun during the Trump administration. In fact, Brightbill said, "Our sense is that the administration is less interested in new national security tariff actions but it may very well be willing to take additional 301 actions against China, based on new and continuing distortive trade practices.”