Clark Hill Helps Automotive Supplier Avoid Costly Tariffs

Kelsey Christensen, Mark Ludwikowski, and Sally Alghazali successfully represented automotive supplier MAHLE before the U.S. International Trade Commission.

As a result, MAHLE’s importing of aluminum extrusions from 14 countries to be used in automotive parts will not face tariffs in excess of 300% upon shipment to the U.S., resulting in millions of dollars in savings.

“This would have impacted many of MAHLE’s imports for sale to its OEM customers, so we’re thrilled to get such a significant victory,” Christensen said.

MAHLE purchases aluminum extrusions and manufactures them into automotive parts for OEMs in the U.S. and globally. Many of its automotive part imports contain aluminum extrusions that could have become subject to additional tariffs.

Clark Hill’s trio of international trade attorneys represented MAHLE from the outset of the case about a year ago. Before the USITC, they successfully argued that MAHLE’s imports are not hurting US companies.

“One of the points we argued is that these imports are not aluminum extrusions but auto parts instead. They’re not competing for sale in the United States with the aluminum pieces. They’re competing for sales against other auto part producers,” Christensen said.

MAHLE’s victory represents a rare win for a respondent before the USITC. Over the past five years, petitioners have succeeded in having 86% of antidumping (AD) and countervailing duty (CVD) investigations result in orders.

“This was a tremendous group effort to argue MAHLE’s case before the USITC and the Department of Commerce,” Ludwikowski said. “The scope of this case was broader than most, but our experience of arguing before both agencies helped us prove MAHLE’s position.”