As background – and as you may be aware, the U.S. Department of Commerce, in a petition filed by a group of curtain wall manufacturers, was asked to clarify that aluminum in curtain wall units is covered by the tariffs for aluminum extrusions imported from China. Initially, the Commerce Department ruled in favor of the U.S. aluminum extrusion trade orders. Then a Federal judge ordered Commerce to reconsider its decision that unitized curtain wall units are covered in the trade tariff orders. In response to this order, the Commerce Department filed a “revised” decision with the Federal court, finding “under protest” that certain curtain wall units were not covered by the trade tariffs. Though Commerce yielded to the judge, doing so “under protest” allows Commerce to appeal to the higher court.
That appeal was filed in June 2016, when the curtain wall producers filed a brief with the Court arguing that Commerce was wrong to exempt these curtain wall units from the tariffs. The judge was in the process of reviewing the case when he unexpectedly passed away. It took some additional time, but a new judge was assigned to the case and we have been awaiting Judge Gordon’s decision regarding the next hearing in this matter. We now have movement in the case.
Judge Gordon has scheduled the hearing at 2:30pm on Thursday, November 2 at the Court of International Trade (1 Federal Plaza, New York, NY).
It has been a long wait to see how the Judge would move forward in this case. His decision to hold oral arguments next month ends the speculation.
Now the industry must pull together and donate much-needed money to the legal fund. The size of our war chest will determine the quality of defense in this matter. Please keep in mind that we are one decision away from curtain wall not being covered by the Aluminum Extruders Council (AEC) tariff orders. If that should occur, the only remedy for the industry would be for the curtain wall industry to launch its own case. That is what happened in Canada. The cost of that would be in the millions.
The Chinese, who we know have systematically and deliberately sought to take over the U.S. aluminum extrusion industry, are currently focused on the U.S. West Coast curtain wall market but the rest of the country is likely to feel the pressure soon. If curtain wall extrusions are not subject to the tariffs carried by our orders, they will simply overrun domestic production.