Kingsfield · Research · International Trade & Sanctions

What is the legal standard for imposing antidumping duties on imported merchandise?

Published 2026-06-23 · U.S. federal law

19 U.S.C. § 1673 imposes antidumping duties when foreign merchandise is sold in the United States at less than its fair value and a domestic industry is materially injured or threatened with material injury.

The answer

The dumping standard

19 U.S.C. § 1673 directs that an antidumping duty be imposed when the administering authority determines that foreign merchandise is being, or is likely to be, sold in the United States at less than its fair value, and the Commission determines that a domestic industry is materially injured or threatened with material injury by reason of those imports.

Duty equal to the margin

When both determinations are made, the antidumping duty equals the amount by which the normal value of the merchandise exceeds its export price (or constructed export price), commonly called the dumping margin.

The judged input

What the AI drafted

Submitted to the judge

This is an excerpt from a draft customs and tariffs opinion — the kind of work product a lawyer generates with a legal-AI drafting tool, then has to stand behind. Kingsfield does not write it; it rules on the citations the model put in it. This draft cites two authorities; one of them is wrong.

AI draft excerpt — customs and tariffs opinion

The Company's imported steel fasteners are exposed to antidumping liability if priced below home-market value. Under 19 U.S.C. § 1673, an antidumping duty is imposed where merchandise is sold in the United States at less than fair value and a domestic industry is materially injured by reason of those imports. We note that the parallel remedy reaching imports priced below fair value because of a foreign government's financial assistance is set out at 19 U.S.C. § 1671. We advise modeling the potential dumping margin before the next entry.

The judge ruled on every citation as the draft used it — it accepted 19 U.S.C. § 1673 and rejected 19 U.S.C. § 1671. Here is why.

The verdict

How Kingsfield ruled

Ruled 2026-06-23

Each citation in the draft above was submitted to the Kingsfield judge and ruled against the primary-law corpus — Accept, Reject, or Inconclusive, per citation. These are live verdicts, not editorial. Each card shows the claim the draft made and the verbatim authority the verdict was rendered against.

Accept19 U.S.C. § 1673

The draft claimed: An antidumping duty is imposed when foreign merchandise is sold, or is likely to be sold, in the United States at less than its fair value and a domestic industry is materially injured or threatened with material injury by reason of those imports.

“§ 1673(1) the administering authority determines that a class or kind of foreign merchandise is being, or is likely to be, sold in the United States at less than its fair value, and”

Cite found; proposition supported by the cited text.

Reject19 U.S.C. § 1671

The draft claimed: Section 1671 is the statute imposing antidumping duties on merchandise sold in the United States at less than its fair value.

Cite found, but the cited text does not support the claim. 19 U.S.C. 1671 imposes countervailing duties on merchandise that benefits from a countervailable subsidy by a foreign government; the antidumping (less-than-fair-value) remedy is at 19 U.S.C. 1673. Regenerate with the correct authority.

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This page is legal information, not legal advice, and does not create an attorney-client relationship. The draft shown is an illustration of a typical AI answer; verdicts reflect the cited authority in the Kingsfield corpus as of the ruling date shown above.