Level the Playing Field 2.0 Reintroduced
A major rewrite of antidumping duty and countervailing duty laws, first introduced five years ago but only passed in one chamber (see 2203030053), was reintroduced this week by Sen. Todd Young, R-Ind., and Sen. Tina Smith, D-Minn.
The bill was first championed by Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, and Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio; Portman chose to leave the Senate and Brown was defeated in November.
“This legislation provides more tools for the U.S. to stop illegal dumping and subsidies that have made it impossible for domestic producers and workers to compete," Smith said in a news release.
The bill has eight other Republican co-sponsors and six other Democratic co-sponsors.
The senators say the Leveling the Playing Field Act 2.0 would allow Commerce to:
- establish the concept of “successive investigations” under antidumping and countervailing duty laws, which would allow petitioners to bring new cases more easily when production moves to another country
- expedite timelines for successive investigations, as well as instruct the International Trade Commission to consider the relationship between past and successive trade cases
- apply CVD law to transnational subsidies.
The bill also would create statutory requirements for anti-circumvention inquiries' process and timeline, and would establish deadlines for preliminary and final determinations.