So now that the CVD-NME bill has passed the House and Senate, and presumably will become law soon, I have a question about CVDs and double counting in relation to market economies.
As explained here, under the legislation, there is a procedure for how respondents can get AD duties reduced in a situation where simultaneous AD and CVD cases have been brought against the same product imported from an NME. Basically, an adjustment to antidumping duties, so as to avoid the double remedy problem, will be made where the subsidy reduces the price of imports, in a way that increases the dumping margins (it's a little more complicated than that when you take into account burdens of proof and other elements of the provision). It may not be easy to show this import price decrease and dumping margin increase, but presumably the very clever economists and lawyers working for foreign exporters and producers will give it a try. Perhaps they will even succeed now and then.
Here's my question. With the experience they gain in making this argument in the NME context, will they apply the same logic to the market economy context? I know that NME and ME are thought of as completely separate, but I wonder if the situations are really all that different. Maybe the argument about subsidies leading to dumping, and thus resulting in double-counting, can apply more generally. As SCM Agreement Article 15.5 explains, subsidized imports must be causing injury "through the effects of subsidies." Article 15.2 elaborates by talking about "the volume of the subsidized imports" and "the effect of the subsidized imports on prices." So, at least in part, the theory behind CVDs is that subsidies might lead to import prices being lowered, which causes injury. But of course, when you talk about lower import prices, you also think about dumping. Couldn't the lower import prices that result from subsidies lead to a finding of dumping as well? And, therefore, shouldn't there be an effort to make sure that CV and AD duties are not addressing the same issue (i.e., lower import prices), even in market economy situations?
Of course, all of this may be moot if respondents cannot meet the standard for showing lower prices/higher margins in the NME context.
