US Antidumping and Countervailing Duties on Vietnam Plywood: Status and Scope

Three separate US trade actions decide whether Vietnam-origin plywood owes antidumping (AD) or countervailing (CVD) duties, and importers routinely confuse them. Only one names Vietnam itself. The other two target China-origin product, including Chinese panels finished in Vietnam. Duty exposure on any given shipment turns on product scope, HTS classification, and origin, not on the country of the last factory that touched it.

This page is a public-sourced explainer, not legal advice. Confirm your own position with a licensed customs broker or trade counsel before you rely on any classification.

What are the three US AD/CVD actions affecting Vietnam plywood?

Read them as three distinct proceedings with different targets and different dates. Getting the wrong one attached to your product is how importers end up under- or over-estimating duty risk.

The 2018 China orders: why sourcing moved to Vietnam

In January 2018 Commerce issued antidumping and countervailing duty orders on certain hardwood plywood products from China, after the US International Trade Commission found injury to domestic producers. The orders carried steep China-wide rates. Buyers responded by shifting purchases toward Vietnam, Indonesia, Cambodia, and other suppliers outside the order.

The China orders are still live. Commerce and the ITC continued them after the five-year sunset review in June 2023, so China-origin hardwood plywood remains subject to both duties today. Nothing about the 2018 orders reaches genuinely Vietnamese-origin product on its own. That distinction is exactly what the next action tested.

The 2022-2023 circumvention finding: Chinese inputs finished in Vietnam

Some product that shipped from Vietnam was not really Vietnamese. It was Chinese veneer and core assembled into finished panels across the border to sidestep the China orders. Commerce ran an anti-circumvention inquiry and, in a final determination published on 20 July 2023, ruled that certain hardwood plywood completed in Vietnam using Chinese inputs circumvents the 2018 orders. That product is treated as China-origin for duty purposes and owes the China AD and CVD rates.

The finding did not brand all Vietnamese plywood as Chinese. Commerce set up a certification regime: exporters and importers who can document that the panels are genuinely of Vietnamese origin, with qualifying core and face veneers, can certify their goods as outside the circumvention finding. The paperwork is the whole game here. Weak or missing origin records are what pull a shipment into the China rates.

The 2025-2026 case naming Vietnam directly

This is the action many importers miss. In 2025 a group of US producers filed new petitions, and Commerce opened antidumping and countervailing duty investigations into hardwood and decorative plywood from China, Indonesia, and Vietnam. Countervailing duty investigations were initiated in June 2025. For the first time, Vietnam-origin product was itself under investigation, not merely as a conduit for Chinese goods.

On 21 July 2026 Commerce published its final affirmative determination that hardwood and decorative plywood from Vietnam is being sold in the US at less than fair value, with a Vietnam-wide weighted-average dumping margin of 90.12% and a cash-deposit rate of 84.95% after adjustment for subsidy offsets. Commerce made a parallel final affirmative countervailing duty determination the same day. Critical circumstances were found negative for the dumping side.

One step remains before any order issues. The ITC must reach a final determination on whether these imports injure the US industry. Until that injury vote is affirmative and an order is published, there is no completed AD/CVD order against Vietnam-origin hardwood and decorative plywood, though cash-deposit requirements can apply in the interim. Treat the case as active and unresolved, not settled.

How the hardwood and decorative cases differ from formwork panels

"Hardwood and decorative plywood" is the defined scope of the 2025-2026 case, and its own text draws the lines. The scope reads on decorative and furniture-grade panels classified across the HTS 4412 subheadings (for example 4412.31, 4412.33, 4412.34, and 4412.94), plus a few 9403.90 furniture-part codes.

Two categories sit outside that scope in the notice itself. Structural plywood certified to US Product Standards PS 1 or PS 2 for structural use is excluded. Phenolic film faced Plyform, meaning panels with an opaque phenolic film of at least 90 g/m² bonded to both faces, is also excluded by name. Structural sheathing and film-faced concrete formwork panels are a different product family from the decorative and furniture panels these cases target. That is a factual reading of the scope, not a promise about your specific goods. Classification is decided shipment by shipment on the actual product, its construction, and its HTS code, so verify yours rather than assuming an exclusion applies.

What importers should document

Whatever your product, the file you keep is what defends the entry. Build it before the container ships, not after a CBP inquiry.

• Origin evidence. Mill records showing where the core and face veneers were peeled and where the panel was pressed. This is what separates Vietnamese-origin product from the circumvention finding.
• Species and construction. Core species (for example acacia, eucalyptus, or rubberwood/Hevea) and the full layup, tied to the mill certificate. See the manufacturer specifications on vinawoodltd.com for how these are documented.
• HTS classification rationale. The 4412 (or 9403.90) code you claim, with a short written basis. Structural PS 1/PS 2 certificates or film-faced Plyform specs belong here if you are relying on an exclusion.
• Scope and certification statements. Any exporter or importer certification required under the circumvention regime, signed and retained.
• Test and conformity records. Formaldehyde emissions (EPA TSCA Title VI / CARB P2) and other conformity documents that a broker may need alongside the customs entry.

None of this removes duty liability by itself. It lets a broker or counsel classify the goods correctly and support the entry if it is questioned. If you need help assembling origin and conformity paperwork for a Vietnam-origin shipment, Vinawood can provide the mill documentation that supports your customs file.

Related guides

• Vietnam vs China plywood
• EUDR and Vietnam plywood
• Compliance atlas for Vietnam plywood
• Why Vietnam became a plywood export hub