U.S. decides on anti-dumping tariff for Chinese aluminum cables exported via S. Korea

The U.S. government has decided to impose a nearly 53 percent anti-dumping duty on aluminum wire cables exported to the country by a Chinese company based in South Korea, citing circumvention of U.S. tariffs, industry sources said Friday.

The U.S. Department of Commerce recently made the decision to impose a 52.79 percent anti-dumping duty and a 33.44 percent countervailing duty on aluminum wire cables manufactured by Pusan Cables & Engineering Co., according to the sources.

The company is known to be based in South Korea but fully owned by a Chinese company. The materials for the affected aluminum wire cables were imported from China and partially processed in South Korea before being exported to the United States.

South Korea’s Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy explained that the tariff imposition came as a result of the U.S. government’s investigation on circumvention of tariffs on Chinese goods, which began in October 2023, when former president Joe Biden was in office.

Taihan Electric Wire Co., another South Korea-based exporter of aluminum wire cables to the U.S., was excluded from the tariff imposition as the company proved it does not use Chinese aluminum, according to the ministry.

The ministry said other Korean aluminum cable companies do not export to the U.S. at the moment, and if they want to in the future, will not experience tariffs if they prove they do not use Chinese materials.

The ministry added it has actively supported South Korean companies in the process of the investigation and will also do so in the future.