he U.S. International Trade Commission (USITC) has set the schedule for its five-year review of the countervailing duties imposed since 2021 on phosphate fertilizers from Morocco and Russia, in a notice dated October 6 and published on October 9 in the Federal Register. The hearing will be held in Washington on April 1, 2027. Parties wishing to appear must file their requests by March 25; prehearing briefs are due on March 24, posthearing briefs on April 8 and final comments on April 29. The Commission must determine whether lifting the duties would likely lead to the continuation or recurrence of material injury to the U.S. industry, and it has given itself up to ninety additional days to decide.
This is the second track of a two-track procedure. In July, the Commerce Department found, on a preliminary basis, that revoking the order would likely lead to continued subsidies at a rate of 20.04 percent for OCP and all other Moroccan exporters; it now falls to the Commission to rule on injury, without which the duties lapse. Meanwhile, the temporary suspension granted by the White House on June 29, valid for eight months at most, will have ended before the hearing even opens. The fate of Moroccan phosphates on the American market will thus be decided in the spring, in a Washington hearing room.
Photo: Suyash Dwivedi, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Federal Register (U.S. International Trade Commission) - Phosphate Fertilizers From Morocco and Russia; Scheduling of Full Five-Year Reviews
Federal Register (Department of Commerce) - Phosphate Fertilizers From the Kingdom of Morocco: Preliminary Results of First Full Sunset Review of the Countervailing Duty Order
Federal Register (Executive Office of the President) - Declaration of Emergency and Authorization for Temporary Duty-Free Importation of Phosphate Fertilizer From Morocco
