Clark Hill Scores Win for Rubber Manufacturer at the U.S. International Trade Commission

International Trade Member William Sjoberg and Associate Maram Salaheldin successfully represented Industrias Negromex, S.A. de C.V. and Dynasol, LLC as part of a 12-month investigation by the U.S. Department of Commerce and U.S. International Trade Commission into the pricing of a rubber product import.

Negromex is the sole Mexican foreign manufacturer/exporter of Acrylonitrile-Butadiene Rubber (NBR), and Dynasol is its affiliated U.S. importer of NBR.

The Commission unanimously ruled on July 11 that a U.S. industry is not materially injured or threatened with material injury when NBR is imported from France, Mexico, and South Korea. The U.S. Department of Commerce had determined these imports are sold in the U.S. at less than fair value.

“I am pleased that the Commission was able to apply the facts to the law and render a considered determination,” Sjoberg said. “I am even more pleased that the client will now be able to sell its NBR in the United States without the burden of unlawful antidumping duties.”

Sjoberg and Salaheldin worked with Negromex and Dynasol to ensure the investigation’s record correctly reflected the companies’ financial and economic information. Based on that information, they submitted arguments both in writing to the Department of Commerce and Commission in addition to advocating before the Commission at an administrative hearing.

The ruling comes after a preliminary investigation resulted in the USITC voting 5-0 in favor of injury and preliminary and final determinations wherein the Department of Commerce calculated antidumping duty margins for all companies from the three countries in both phases of the Department’s investigation. In both phases, Negromex received the lowest antidumping margins of any of the companies involved in the investigation. Following the July 11 ruling, the Department of Commerce will not issue antidumping duty orders against NBR from France, Mexico, and South Korea.

“The key to turning around the vote at the Commission was the more robust administrative record that allowed us to conduct a more detailed economic analysis,” Sjoberg said. “With that analysis, we were able to both highlight our client’s affirmative information and, as important, to establish that any injury to the U.S. industry was not attributable to imports of NBR from the subject countries.

NBR is a synthetic rubber produced by the emulsion polymerization of butadiene and acrylonitrile with or without the incorporation of a third component selected from methacrylic acid or isoprene. Consumer products related to NBR include hoses, air ducts, construction insulation, adhesives, mats, wires and cables, and seals for automotive and industrial use.

For more information on this case, contact William Sjoberg or Maram Salaheldin.