Posted on 23 Jun 2008
U.S. steel industry wins trade case against China
U.S.
steel pipe manufacturers, who have been battling a surge in imports from China, won a
major victory Friday when the International Trade Commission cleared the way
for the imposition of stiff penalty tariffs for the next five years.
The commission voted 5-0 that the U.S. industry was being harmed by
the import of circular steel pipe. The decision marked the first time a U.S. industry
has won a decision to impose tariffs on a Chinese product based on the argument
that the Chinese government was unfairly subsidizing a Chinese industry.
The commission ruling means penalty tariffs ranging from 99
percent to 701 percent will be imposed on Chinese imports of circular welded
pipe, a form of pipe used in a variety of construction jobs, such as home
plumbing and sprinkler systems.
For more than two decades, the U.S.
government had refused to consider subsidy cases against the Chinese government
because China
was classified as a non-market economy.
