The Commerce Department’s determinations mark the end of its proceedings initiated following the filing in March 2017 of antidumping and countervailing duty petitions by the Aluminum Association’s Trade Enforcement Working Group, marking the first time the Aluminum Association has filed unfair trade cases on behalf of its members in its nearly 85-year history. 

The next step in the trade cases will be the United States International Trade Commission’s (“ITC”) final phase determination of whether imports from China are a cause of material injury or threaten to materially injure domestic producers of certain aluminum foil.  The ITC is tentatively scheduled to vote on March 15, 2018.    

U.S. aluminum foil production supports more than 20,000 direct, indirect, and induced American jobs, and accounts for $6.8 billion in economic activity. 

The aluminum foil subject to the Commerce Department’s investigation includes all imports from China of aluminum foil that is 0.2 mm or less in thickness (less than 0.0078 inches) in reels weighing more than 25 pounds and that is not backed, etched for use in capacitors, or cut to shape.  The aluminum foil subject to the investigations is used in a variety of consumer and industrial applications, with specific uses that include: household foil, flexible and semi-rigid cookware, product packaging, automotive and HVAC heat exchangers, among other common uses.  

The Aluminum Association Trade Enforcement Working Group is represented in these actions by John M. Herrmann, Paul C. Rosenthal, Kathleen W. Cannon, and Grace W. Kim of the law firm Kelley Drye & Warren LLP.