When Facing Foreign Government Investigations of Your Exports Make the Trade Remedy Compliance Staff Your First Stop
Last Published: 10/18/2016

What are Trade Remedies and Why Should U.S. Exporting Companies Worry About Them?

  • As U.S. companies, large and small, grow their exports in response to the National Export Initiative, it is crucial that foreign markets remain free and open to fairly traded U.S.-produced goods.
  • In response to growing competition, foreign industries are more frequently seeking relief from unfairly priced or rapidly increasing imports via trade remedy (e.g. “antidumping” or “safeguard”) investigations conducted by the foreign government. These involve an extensive examination of an exporter’s sales and production records for evidence of any unfair trading and whether any such activity may have caused injury to the investigating country’s domestic producers.
  • The growth in worldwide trade remedy investigations focuses on industry sectors in which the United States has a large export presence, which means U.S. exporters are increasingly likely to find themselves subject to a trade remedy action.
  • If ignored, antidumping and safeguard investigations can lead to substantial duties being imposed on the affected U.S. exports, and the potential loss of lucrative export markets.

How Can Enforcement and Compliance Help?
Enforcement and Compliance’s Office of Policy, through its Trade Remedy Compliance Staff (TRCS), has developed and refined a potent three-pronged customer-oriented approach of monitoring, outreach and advocacy to address potentially unfair application of trade remedies. Effectively using its combination of overseas officers and U.S.-based experts, TRCS analyzes the global use of trade remedy measures; alerts U.S. industry of pending foreign trade remedy actions; evaluates foreign countries’ trade remedy laws, policies and practices for consistency with World Trade Organization (WTO) rules; and maintains an extensive network of contacts with U.S. businesses, industry associations and foreign governments. This coordinated approach is designed to assemble as complete a picture as possible of foreign trade remedy regimes and, where there are problems, address these concerns with foreign governments directly, or at the WTO. This strategy is clearly appreciated by the trading community, as evidenced by the increasing number of U.S. companies and government partners seeking our advice and assistance on foreign trade remedy activities. 

What Services Does TRCS Provide?
TRCS provides a wide range of services and tools to assist U.S. companies that find themselves subject to foreign antidumping and safeguard actions. Among these:

  • A highly experienced team with extensive knowledge of trade remedy regimes worldwide
  • A robust network of contacts around the globe to monitor trade remedy actions that affect U.S. exporters
  • A comprehensive list of active foreign antidumping or safeguard actions involving U.S. exports
  • A reference library of foreign trade remedy laws and regulations issued
  • An extensive listing of online resources to monitor foreign trade remedies

Most importantly, if you find yourself facing a foreign government’s antidumping or safeguard investigation , don’t panic, but do act quickly. TRCS should be your first stop – contact us at (202) 482-3415 or TRCS@trade.gov. We will help you to better understand what you will be facing, point out deadlines you won’t want to miss, and provide support to help ensure that the foreign government conducts the investigation fairly and according to international rules.
 

Prepared by the International Trade Administration. With its network of 108 offices across the United States and in more than 75 countries, the International Trade Administration of the U.S. Department of Commerce utilizes its global presence and international marketing expertise to help U.S. companies sell their products and services worldwide. Locate the trade specialist in the U.S. nearest you by visiting http://export.gov/usoffices.