WASHINGTON – US aluminium products makers sought new trade protections against Chinese imports on Tuesday, accusing China Zhongwang Holdings Ltd and its affiliates of evading US anti-dumping and anti-subsidy duties by shipping aluminium products through Vietnam.

In a filing with the US Commerce Department, the aluminium Extruders Council said that aluminium extrusions from Zhongwang affiliate Global Vietnam aluminium Co should be subject to the same US import duties as Chinese extrusions.

The duties are currently a combined 106%, according to the Commerce Department.

The anti-circumvention petition follows a number of US actions to raise barriers to Chinese aluminium, including Commerce Department preliminary duties on Chinese aluminium foil and a rare US government-initiated investigation into imports of Chinese aluminium alloy sheet products.

It also comes as the administration of US President Donald Trump is considering much broader global restrictions on aluminium imports on national security grounds.

The Commerce Department is due to issue recommendations to Trump from its "Section 232" investigation into aluminium imports on January 22. Recommendations from a similar probe into steel imports are due on January 16, but it is not clear whether either report will immediately be made public.

China's excess production capacity of both metals has emerged as a major trade irritant for the United States and Europe, prompting them to consider new steps to protect domestic industries and jobs from a flood of Chinese imports.

In the Vietnam petition, the aluminium Extruders Council said it provided evidence that Zhongwang's affiliate in Vietnam was changing the shape and form of Chinese extrusions in minor ways but claiming their origin as Vietnamese.

"These blatant attempts to evade duties and flood the market with unfairly traded Chinese aluminium extrusions must be halted," the trade group's president, Jeff Henderson, said in a statement.

In June, the Commerce Department ordered that fabricated aluminium pallets imported from China should be subject to the US duties after determining that they were part of a duty evasion scheme. The aluminium Extruders Council argued that these products are being shipped through Vietnam with minor changes.

The Commerce Department has shown receptiveness to similar anti-circumvention cases in the steel sector. In December, the agency slapped steep duties on steel products from Vietnam that originated as Chinese made hot-rolled steel.