The US Department of Commerce announced a preliminary affirmative determination in its antidumping (AD) investigation of van-type trailers and subassemblies from China on 10 June 2026, setting a China-wide cash deposit rate of 130.76 percent (case A-570-219). It builds on the countervailing duty (CVD) side of the same matter. On 2 June, Commerce found Chinese producers were subsidized and set CVD rates of 82.37 percent for the cooperating exporters and 128.78 percent for companies that did not respond (case C-570-218). The two duties stack. A dry or refrigerated van trailer that Commerce reads as both dumped and subsidized can land at the US border carrying a combined preliminary rate well above 200 percent. The case was filed by the American Trailer Manufacturers Coalition, whose members include Great Dane, Stoughton Trailers, and Wabash National.
How the duty reaches the importer
These are preliminary determinations rather than final orders, and they bite before anything is settled. Once Commerce publishes the determination in the Federal Register, US Customs and Border Protection starts collecting cash deposits at the preliminary rate on every entry of covered merchandise. The party that pays is the importer of record in the United States. The Chinese factory does not. That is the same liability rule we covered when a new enforcement order put tariff-fraud exposure on the importer of record. The rate can change at the final determination, scheduled for around 25 August 2026, and the duty becomes a standing order only if the US International Trade Commission also finds that the imports injured American producers. Until then the importer fronts a deposit on each shipment and waits to learn whether the final number runs higher or lower. Plan for the cash, because the deposit comes due at entry, long before any refund. Before a covered order ships, ask the exporter in writing which model and case the goods fall under. Confirm the entered value and HTS classification with your broker. Then price the deposit into the order, not the final landed cost you hoped to pay.
Why a third-country assembler may not help
The part of this case that matters outside the trailer trade sits in three words of the scope: and subassemblies thereof. Commerce wrote the investigation to cover the finished trailer and the Chinese-made subassemblies that go into one, including parts that reach the US through a third country such as Canada. The agency is running concurrent AD and CVD investigations on trailers from Canada and Mexico in parallel. The familiar workaround, ship the Chinese components to a neighbor, assemble them there, and enter the result as Canadian or Mexican, does not clear a scope written this way. For an antidumping case, origin follows where the substance of the good was made, not where the last bolt went in. Any importer leaning on a China-plus-one assembly route to dodge a China duty, the same trade-off we mapped for Vietnam and Section 301, should read the scope language of the order before assuming the route is clean.
The lesson generalizes past trailers. A duty order can reach a product through its parts, and a label that reads made in Mexico does not settle the question on its own. Knowing the real origin and content of what you buy, down to the subassembly, is what tells you whether a duty applies before the entry is filed rather than after Customs sends the bill. If you are unsure what is actually inside the goods you import, that is the gap to close first. It helps to understand how antidumping and countervailing duties reach an importer, and it helps more to see what your supplier is really shipping before the paperwork meets a customs officer.
Sources: U.S. Department of Commerce, International Trade Administration, Preliminary Affirmative Determination in the Antidumping Duty Investigation of Van-Type Trailers and Subassemblies Thereof from the People's Republic of China (A-570-219), announced 10 June 2026 (130.76% China-wide cash deposit rate); Preliminary Affirmative Determinations in the Countervailing Duty Investigations of Van-Type Trailers and Subassemblies Thereof from China and Mexico (C-570-218), announced 2 June 2026, Federal Register applicable 5 June 2026 (82.37% to 128.78% for China); American Trailer Manufacturers Coalition statement, 12 June 2026.