PUBLIC VERSION
transshipment to evade the payment of AD / CVD duties. The details of this successive wave of surges are discussed in greater detail below. As will become clear from this discussion, the surge of imports over the last five years cries out for safeguard relief for the domestic industry.
1. Investigations on QSP from China
On April 17, 2018, the domestic industry filed petitions for relief under Title VII of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended( the“ Tariff Act”), against imports of QSP from China that were being sold at less-than-fair value in the United States and against imports from China that were being unfairly subsidized by the Government of China. 2 In the ensuing AD / CVD investigations, the U. S. International Trade Commission( the“ Commission”) determined that“ the volume of subject imports, and the increase in that volume, is significant in absolute terms and relative to production and consumption in the United States.” 3 The Commission noted that the“ volume of subject imports rose at a much faster rate than apparent U. S. consumption, and subject imports therefore experienced significant gains in market share.” 4 With respect to price effects, the Commission found that“{ s } ubject imports undersold the domestic product in all 180 quarterly price comparisons … at underselling margins that ranged from 4.3 percent to 85.3 percent and averaged 49.2 percent.” 5 Moreover, the Commission explained that the underselling“ enabled the
2 Petitions for the Imposition of Antidumping and Countervailing Duties: Certain Quartz Surface Products from the People’ s Republic of China, EDIS Doc. No. 642263( Apr. 17, 2018)(“ QSP China Petitions”).
3 See Quartz Surface Products from China, Inv. Nos. 701-TA-606 and 731-TA-1416( Final), USITC Pub. 4913( June 2019)(“ QSP from China Inv Final, USITC Pub. 4913”) at 26.
4 Id. at 25( internal citation omitted).
5 Id. at 27.
4