The agency will also investigate whether China is subsidising its tower companies so they have an unfair advantage when selling to the US.
The ITC "has made affirmative determinations in its preliminary phase anti-dumping and countervailing duty investigations," announced the agency today.
The vote was unanimous, said Dan Pickard of Wiley Rein, the law firm handing the case.
The preliminary judgment allows the US Department of Commerce (DoC) to continue its probe into whether the imported towers are being sold at unfairly low prices in the US and therefore undermining competition.
According to the DoC, China’s tower makers allegedly undercut US tower prices by 213%, while Vietnamese companies charged about 142% less.
If the DoC finds there has been ‘injury’ to the US tower industry, it could require the Asian companies to make cash deposits in case duties are imposed, notes ITC spokeswoman Peg O’Loughlin.
The DoC probe is expected to last six months. A final decision on duties is not expected for about 12 months.
Today’s vote follows a complaint filed with both agencies in December by the US-based Wind Tower Trade Coalition, whose members are Trinity Structural Towers, DMI Industries, Katana Summit and Broadwind Energy.
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