The ongoing investigation of whether passenger and light truck tires imported from South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam are being dumped in the U.S. market for less than fair value definitely won’t be settled in 2020. The Department of Commerce has agreed to a 50-day extension for preliminary determinations.
Such delays aren’t unusual. It’s common for one party or another to request more time throughout the process. In this case, it was the United Steelworkers who asked on Oct. 1 that Commerce extend the timeline. The union asked to delay when Commerce will issue its preliminary determinations in the case. Those initially were due Nov. 9.
But the union said it thought the complexity of selecting the mandatory respondents in each region and obtaining initial and supplemental questionnaire responses would be difficult, and the result would be incomplete and insufficient information.
Commerce noted there were no compelling reasons to deny the request, and granted it.
The result is preliminary determinations are now due by Dec. 29, 2020.
After those determinations, the final stage comes next — 75 days after the preliminary determinations. That moves the date for a final ruling to mid-March — specifically, March 14, which is a Sunday, so March 15.
And yes that date could be delayed, too.
