U.S. announces final ruling on Chinese MEWP tariffs

On Nov. 10, the U.S. International Trade Commission unanimously ruled that U.S. MEWP manufacturers are being economically harmed by Chinese MEWP imports and therefore announced countervailing tariffs will go into effect.

Following the U.S. Department of Commerce’s determination that MEWPs are being subsidized by the government of China, Chair Jason E. Kearns, Vice Chair Randolph J. Stayin, and Commissioners David S. Johanson, Rhonda K. Schmidtlein and Amy A. Karpel made the affirmative threat determinations.

The ITC ruling follows last month’s determination by the U.S. Department of Commerce that Chinese MEWP producers were receiving illegal subsidies from the government of China. The Department of Commerce prepared tariffs ranging from 11.95% to 448.70% to address the subsidies.

“As a result of the commission’s affirmative threat determination, Commerce will issue a countervailing duty order on imports of this product from China,” the ITC said.

A separate dumping investigation by the Commerce Department is still underway, with Commerce calculating preliminary anti-dumping tariffs ranging from 17.78% to 275.06%.

Earlier this month, Sinoboom responded to ALH’s request for comments on the issue, stating the following:

“The Sinoboom team believes customers should not be limited in their choice of equipment manufacturers, whether domestically or internationally produced goods.

“The claims brought about by Genie and JLG discourage new entrants to the United States like Sinoboom, who bring new innovations that contribute to the MEWP industry growth. Innovations in aerial lift designs collectively bring improvements in safety for aerial operators and job site efficiency. Limiting the number of manufacturers, in turn, limits the pace of innovation in the U.S. market. We don’t see how this benefits the U.S. aerial industry or MEWP operators.

“Sinoboom is proud to employ a team of U.S. aerial experts that support the small to medium-sized rental businesses when Genie and JLG are often focused on larger accounts. We are a privately owned company started by a husband and wife team that started over 13 years ago. Unlike other Chinese manufacturers, Sinoboom solely focuses on engineering and manufacturing of access equipment. We are proud to bring Sinoboom products to multiple regions around the globe and are committed to the U.S. access market.”

LGMG North America also provided comments. The company’s North America President Craig Paylor, said; “In 40 years in the aerial business I have never witnessed a couple manufactures who for years have ‘ruled the market share of the aerial marketplace,’ who hide their inability to forecast correctly or turn their supply chain on and off like a light switch, blame so many other companies who they compete with.

“The sales results of fiscal 2020 [were] all about Covid and to blame their results on Chinese manufactures is a joke… Today’s market leaders built factories in China to save millions on purchase parts and components but then complain when the same companies and people in China who helped them do this learn the business of manufacturing products, then come to the U.S. to sell them. How hypocritical can you get?

“How many price decreases did distribution in the U.S. get when the manufacturing costs were lowered through Chinese components and assemblies? None of course. But the manufacturing margins sure increased, while distribution struggled to keep their returns even.

“It was said by one of the giant manufacturers recently that all the companies from China do is build a model that looks exactly like their model, then paint it a different color, then sell it for 25 percent less. If that is the case, then why would the giants have lead times up to a year long? Wouldn’t those companies with the duplicated machines for 25 percent less be in the drives seat? So, who is really hurting the MEWP industry?”

Zoomlion and Dingli have not yet responded to requests for comment. We will update this story when more information becomes available. To read the original story, click here.