Commerce cannot tell from the petitions whether enough of the hydraulic cylinder industry is behind them, so it is going to ask the industry

Nine companies signed these petitions. Commerce is not yet satisfied that they speak for the industry.

On 29 July the Department of Commerce received antidumping petitions on imports of certain linear hydraulic cylinders and parts thereof from Canada, China, India, Korea and Mexico, together with countervailing duty petitions on the same product from China, India and Mexico. They were filed on behalf of the Hydraulic Cylinders Fair Trade Coalition. Its individual members, named in a footnote, are Aggressive Hydraulics Inc., Hol-Mac Corporation, Ligon Hydraulics, Prince Manufacturing Corporation, PTC Alliance LLC, Rosenboom Machine and Tool Inc., Scot Industries Inc., Stillwell Inc. and Texas Hydraulics Inc.

On 18 August, the day the answer was due, Commerce said it needed longer and gave the reason.

The threshold nobody sees

A trade case does not begin with a finding about foreign pricing. It begins with arithmetic about who at home wants the case brought. Producers or workers supporting a petition must account for at least 25 percent of total production of the domestic like product, and for more than half of the production of that part of the industry that expresses a view either way. Where the petition does not establish support above 50 percent of total production, the statute tells Commerce to poll the industry, or to rely on other information, or to sample it where the producers are numerous.

Commerce wrote that it is not clear from the petitions whether the industry support criteria have been met. So it will poll.

Twenty days

The department normally has 20 days from the filing to decide whether to initiate. The statute allows one extension of 20 more days, and it is available only in what the statute calls exceptional circumstances, defined for this purpose as a case where Commerce must poll or otherwise determine support for the petition by the industry. That is the provision being used here.

The arithmetic lands on 7 September, which is a federal holiday, so the determination is due on 8 September. Commerce says it will contact the International Trade Commission, which runs the injury half of a trade case, and make the extension notice available to it.

Everything downstream of that date now waits on a headcount.