In a statement, Commerce officials said they determined that certain corrosion-resistant steel products made with hot-rolled steel or cold-rolled substrate from China and shipped to Costa Rica and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) for completion before export to the U.S. circumvents duties on Chinese-produced corrosion-resistant sheet. 

The ruling arises from a self-initiated inquiry launched late last summer. 

“This was the first time that Commerce had self-initiated circumvention inquiries based on its own monitoring of trade patterns, and the first self-initiation of multi-country circumvention inquiries,” the department said. 

Four other self-initiated circumvention inquiries remain pending, including three pertaining to (corrosion-resistant sheet), it added.