ITC to Recommend Absolute Quota of Zero for a Year on TIB Imports of Polyester Staple Fiber

The International Trade Commission will recommend a tariff-rate quota on imports of polyester staple fiber, as well as an absolute quota on temporary imports under bond of the product -- starting at zero -- as Section 201 safeguard remedies to be considered by President Joe Biden.

The recommendations, which will be sent to the president by Aug. 26, follow the commission’s finding in July that imports of polyester staple fiber injure U.S. industry. Biden will now make “the final decision concerning whether to provide relief to the U.S. industry and the type and amount of relief,” the ITC said in a news release.

All four current commissioners recommended both the TRQ and the absolute quota on TIB imports for a duration of four years. The absolute quota would apply to imports of polyester staple fiber under subheading 9813.00.0520. All four recommended it start at zero, increasing to 1 million pounds after a year, then 2 million in the third year and 4 million in the fourth.

TRQ amounts and rates varied among the commissioners, with quantities ranging from 110 million to 145 million, in-quota rates ranging from 12% to 22%, and out-of-quota rates ranging from 34% to 50%. All four commissioners recommended that the president set up an exclusion process for fibers that are in short supply.

While the commissioners largely excluded free trade agreement countries from the TRQ and the absolute quota, including Canada and Mexico, two of the four commissioners said South Korea shouldn’t be excluded from the absolute quota, even if it is from the TRQ.

Two commissioners – Chair Amy Karpel and Commissioner Jason Kearns – recommended that the president push for Congress to pass a law that would “permanently preclude the importation of fine denier polyester staple fiber under TIB to avoid payment of cash deposits and assessed antidumping and countervailing duties that would otherwise apply to the product,” in the words of Karpel.

Karpel also recommended “programs to assist downstream users of fine denier polyester staple fiber and to mitigate the potential impact of the remedy on such users.” Kearns said the administration should push a law to “distribute TRQ revenue generated by this action to downstream users of the article, to the extent necessary to reduce injury to domestic manufacturers of downstream products.”