United States of America: Commerce opened an inquiry on Oct. 2, 2026, into whether Alumetal’s aluminum composite panels from China evade duties on Chinese common alloy aluminum sheet.<\/p>\n
The U.S. Department of Commerce on Oct. 2, 2026, opened an inquiry into whether aluminum composite panels made in China by Shanghai Alumetal Decorative Material Co. are evading the U.S. anti-dumping and countervailing duties on Chinese common alloy aluminum sheet1<\/a><\/sup>.<\/p>\n The panels are thin building boards: a plastic core pressed between two very thin aluminum sheets. Commerce suspects they may be aluminum sheet changed only slightly, so that they slip past duties that have applied to Chinese sheet since 20191<\/a><\/sup>.<\/p>\n In short, Commerce is checking whether one Chinese maker’s panels are really taxed aluminum sheet in a new form. While it checks, U.S. customs will hold the final duty bill open on these shipments and can ask importers for a cash deposit at the sheet duty rates.<\/p>\n Commerce started a circumvention inquiry<\/strong>, an investigation into whether goods have been changed or rerouted to avoid an existing duty1<\/a><\/sup>. The notice was published in the Federal Register on Oct. 2, 2026, and applies from that date1<\/a><\/sup>. It was signed on Sept. 24, 2026, by an acting deputy assistant secretary in Commerce’s International Trade Administration1<\/a><\/sup>.<\/p>\n Commerce opened the case on its own, without a request from a U.S. producer. The Federal Register notice calls this "self-initiating"1<\/a><\/sup>. It said the information it already holds supports opening an inquiry1<\/a><\/sup>.<\/p>\n The inquiry covers one company’s goods. These are aluminum composite panels, or ACPs, produced in China by Shanghai Alumetal Decorative Material Co., which the notice calls Alumetal, and exported to the United States1<\/a><\/sup>.<\/p>\n The notice describes the panels in exact terms. To fall inside the inquiry, a panel must have all of these features1<\/a><\/sup>:<\/p>\n The panel must also be produced by Alumetal in China and exported to the United States1<\/a><\/sup>. Panels from other Chinese makers are not named in this inquiry. Panels with a different core, alloy or thickness are also outside its description.<\/p>\n The thickness range matters. The duty orders cover flat aluminum products between 0.2 mm and 6.3 mm thick1<\/a><\/sup>. The panels’ total thickness falls in that same band.<\/p>\n The inquiry tests these panels against two older orders. Commerce published a countervailing duty order<\/strong>, an extra import tax that cancels out government subsidies paid to foreign makers, on Feb. 6, 20192<\/a><\/sup>. It published an anti-dumping duty order<\/strong>, an extra import tax on goods sold abroad below their normal price, on Feb. 8, 20193<\/a><\/sup>.<\/p>\n Both orders followed findings by the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC), the agency that decides whether imports harm U.S. industry. On Jan. 30, 2019, the ITC found that Chinese common alloy sheet was materially injuring a U.S. industry3<\/a><\/sup>. It reached that finding for both the dumped imports and the subsidized imports2<\/a><\/sup>.<\/p>\n The orders cover flat-rolled aluminum 6.3 mm thick or less but over 0.2 mm, in coils or cut to length, of any width1<\/a><\/sup>. The sheet is made from 1XXX-, 3XXX- or 5XXX-series alloys, as named by the Aluminum Association, an industry body1<\/a><\/sup>. Clad sheet with a 3XXX-series core and outer layers on one or both sides is also covered1<\/a><\/sup>.<\/p>\n The orders also reach Chinese sheet that is processed further in another country. Painting, varnishing, cutting, punching, slitting, annealing or tempering abroad does not remove sheet from the orders1<\/a><\/sup>.<\/p>\n One product is excluded by name: aluminum can stock<\/strong>, the sheet used to make drink cans, can lids and the tabs that open them1<\/a><\/sup>. Can stock is 0.200 mm to 0.292 mm thick, has one of four hardness grades (H-19, H-41, H-48 or H-391), and carries a lubricant on its surface1<\/a><\/sup>. It falls under U.S. tariff codes 7606.12.3045 and 7606.12.30551<\/a><\/sup>.<\/p>\n Covered sheet normally enters under eight U.S. tariff codes: 7606.11.3060, 7606.11.6000, 7606.12.3090, 7606.12.6000, 7606.91.3090, 7606.91.6080, 7606.92.3090 and 7606.92.60801<\/a><\/sup>. It may also enter under seven others, including 7606.11.3030 and 7607.11.90901<\/a><\/sup>.<\/p>\n The codes are only a guide. The written product description decides what the orders cover, not the tariff code1<\/a><\/sup>. The law also allows changed goods to be covered "whether or not included in the same tariff classification"1<\/a><\/sup>. So a panel entered under a different code can still be pulled into the orders.<\/p>\n The 2019 orders set the deposit rates that applied at the start. Under the anti-dumping order, most named Chinese exporters had a rate of 49.85%<\/strong>3<\/a><\/sup>. The rate for all other Chinese exporters, called the China-wide entity, was 59.72%<\/strong>3<\/a><\/sup>.<\/p>\nWhat did Commerce start on Oct. 2?<\/h2>\n
Which aluminum panels does the inquiry cover?<\/h2>\n
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What are the duty orders on aluminum sheet?<\/h2>\n
Which aluminum products stay outside the orders?<\/h2>\n
How high are the duties on Chinese sheet?<\/h2>\n
Subsidy duty rates in the 2019 order, %<\/h4>\n