PUBLIC VERSION
In practice, the Commission has divided its substantial cause inquiry into two distinct stages. 127 First, the Commission assesses whether subject imports constitute an important cause of serious injury by examining economic indicators such as trends in import volume and pricing, along with the trade and financial performance of the domestic industry, in the context of the prevailing conditions of competition in the U. S. market. 128 Second, the Commission evaluates the role of other potential contributing factors in the domestic industry’ s injury. 129 In past investigations, the Commission has determined that factors including declining demand, the presence of existing trade remedies, and internal corporate mismanagement did not outweigh imports as the more important cause of serious injury. 130 As shown below, the Commission should reach the same conclusion here.
B.
Conditions of Competition The conditions of competition in the U. S. market for QSP establish that the domestic industry is susceptible to serious injury by reason of imports. The Commission described these conditions of competition— which include a high degree of substitutability between imports and the domestic product and the predominant importance of price in
127 See Washers, USITC Pub. 4745 at 38-51; Crystalline Silicon Photovoltaic Cells( Whether or not
Partially or Fully Assembled into Other Products), Inv. No. TA-201-75, USITC Pub. 4739,( Nov. 2017) at 43-65.
128 Id.
129 Id.
130 See, e. g., Steel, Inv. No. TA-201-73, USITC Pub. 3479( Dec. 2001) at 63-65, 114-115.
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