Leveling the Playing Field 2.0 Act (S. 691)

Leveling the Playing Field 2.0 Act

This bill addresses unfair trade practices by making various changes to U.S. antidumping and countervailing duty laws. Antidumping laws provide relief to U.S industries and workers that are materially injured or threatened with injury due to imports of like products sold in the U.S. market at less than fair value, while countervailing duty laws provide such relief from imports of products subsidized by a foreign government or public entity.

Specifically, the bill establishes a process for successive antidumping and countervailing duty investigations. Successive investigations may be concurrent (an ongoing investigation of the same product) or recently completed (not more than two years before the date of the initiation of the successive investigation). Further, the bill establishes a timeline for the Department of Commerce to issue determinations in successive investigations.

Among other provisions, the bill authorizes Commerce to

• apply countervailing duty law to subsidies provided by a foreign government or public entity to a company operating in a different country,
• use another method for calculating the cost of production in specific circumstances, and
• require importers to certify that the imported merchandise is not subject to an antidumping or countervailing duty order.

Additionally, the bill statutorily establishes procedures for Commerce to conduct circumvention inquiries, including by specifying the deadlines for preliminary and final determinations.

The bill also provides statutory authority for Commerce to investigate currency undervaluation as a countervailable subsidy.