Washington-The Union of American Wood Products Manufacturers (CAMP) has filed a petition with the U.S. Department of Commerce and the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) to restore fair trade conditions for U.S., China and other wood products. Brazil.

The new CAMP anti-dumping and countervailing duty case filed by Wiley Rein LLP represents an American industry that employs thousands of Americans and has existed for several generations. 

Timothy C. Brightbill, CAMP’s trade consultant, said: “By dumping products in the U.S. market, manufacturers in China and Brazil have taken away the jobs of hard-working Americans, thus occupying a large part of the wood products and wood products market, and It's still growing."

"The Chinese government has further exacerbated this unfair market by providing extensive subsidies to its producers," said Blair, a partner of Wiley Rein's international trade practice. "Our case aims to stop the surge in dumping and subsidies for wood products and wood products in the United States, and to create a level playing field for American companies and workers."

The submitted trade petition details the harm suffered by U.S. industries and workers due to unfair trade wood products imported into the U.S. from these countries.

The market share of Brazil and China increased by more than 10 percentage points from 2016 to 2019, while the market share of the US industry fell by 7 to 9 percentage points over the same period. American industry also lost production; shipments; workers; working hours; gross profit, operating profit, and net profit during this period.

The wood products and building materials subject to this petition include wood mouldings and other wood products. Examples include interior and exterior door frames, shells, base moldings, armrests, top moldings, and panel moldings. In 2018, the total sales of these products in the United States were approximately $1.3 billion.  

CAMP's legal action seeks to impose tariffs by the United States to offset the damage caused by these illegal actions by Chinese and Brazilian wood product manufacturers to American factories, workers and communities. CAMP’s petition was supported by manufacturers who accounted for the majority of all wood products and other wood products produced in the United States.

It will take approximately 12 months for the Ministry of Commerce and ITC to conduct trade investigations from start to finish. Preliminary tariffs to offset unfair trade can be levied approximately four to six months after the petition is filed.

The American Wood Product Manufacturers Association is an alliance of wood product manufacturers from all over the United States. CAMP is committed to solving unfair trade practices between China and Brazil, including dumping and subsidies for wood products sold to the United States. Source: Wiley Rein LLP.

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Karl D. Forth is the online editor of CCI Media. In addition to newsletters and custom publishing projects, he also writes news and feature stories in FDMC magazine. He also participated in event organization and compiled the annual FDM 300 industry leader list. You can contact him at karl.forth@woodworkingnetwork.com.

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