Commerce Department Proposes Relaxation of Argentina’s Biodiesel Duties

(WASHINGTON, DC) In a recent review of Argentine government subsidies, the U.S. Department of Commerce found that recent changes to the export tax regime eliminated payments to their biodiesel producers. In turn, Commerce is expected to reduce countervailing duty rates on biodiesel from Argentina from 72 percent to just ten percent. Commerce did not, however, propose to change the antidumping duty rates that are currently in effect, averaging 75 percent. The reduced countervailing duty rates would be applied in addition to the existing antidumping rates, resulting in a total average rate of 85 percent. The proposal caught the eye of the National Biodiesel Board (NBB) who strongly disagrees with the Trump Administration’s proposal to virtually eliminate countervailing duty rates on Argentine biodiesel. Throughout this review, NBB has made the case that Argentina continues to massively subsidize its domestic biodiesel producers and this would eliminate trade protections for U.S. biodiesel producers and soybean farmers at a time when the President is asking them to bear huge economic costs from trade disruptions.