Steel advocate decries “absurd” duties on foreign products

Steel advocate decries “absurd” duties on foreign products

Steel advocate decries “absurd” duties on foreign products

The American Institute for International Steel has denounced what it calls excessive and protectionist antidumping and countervailing duties from the U.S. Commerce Department on imported steel products.
   AIIS, which advocates for importers, exporters and buyers of steel, said the U.S. government has made some baffling and counterproductive decisions regarding tariffs on steel this year.
   'On January 30, AIIS published a press release criticizing an announcement by the U.S. Department of Commerce that calculated an antidumping duty of 505 percent in an administrative review on Indian hot rolled sheet,' a statement from AIIS said. 'In early June, as steel prices and domestic industry profitability continued to set new records, the level of absurdity of U.S. trade laws reached a new high with DOC's publication of a combination of (antidumping) and (countervailing) rates of 701 percent against a Chinese pipe producer.
   'In the same week, the International Trade Commission made an equally absurd decision in a five-year sunset review on wire rod, continuing the duties for another five years on six of the seven countries under review — Brazil, Indonesia, Mexico, Moldova, Trinidad and Tobago, and the Ukraine.'
   AIIS President David Phelps called the laws unfair and said the decisions were hurting U.S. importers by reducing their competitive options.
   'The DOC margin calculations on Chinese standard pipe provide yet another example of just how unfair the U.S. trade laws are,' he said.
   The Chinese pipe producer in question refused to participate in the investigation — Phelps said because they knew that the 'deck was stacked' against them.
   'Over the years, many companies have made the same decision due to the clearly biased process that the DOC uses,' AIIS said. 'The term 'facts available' is used to describe the process, but that effectively means that the petitioners' clearly biased assertions are taken as fact. And what does a 701 percent duty rate really mean?'
   'These are the types of decisions, made ostensibly under the U.S. laws, that show our trading partners that the U.S. trade laws are nothing more than a protectionist vehicle used expertly by the highly profitable U.S. steel industry,' Phelps said.
   AIIS also said the wire rod sunset decision to continue the orders on six of seven countries also showed that U.S. law is out of line with WTO obligations.
   'The U.S. sunset process is deeply flawed,' AIIS said. 'Continuing orders when the industry is profitable, imports are needed in the U.S. market, inventories are low and consumers need additional sources of product from overseas makes no sense. That the domestic industry announced a $60 per ton increase in wire rod prices within days of the ITC decision is additional proof of the domestic industry's perspicacious manipulation of the trade laws.'
   'The fact that two domestic companies successfully sued their own foreign subsidiaries in this wire rod case adds another level of absurdity to these decisions,' Phelps added.
   AIIS said that the power of the U.S. steel lobby has to be tamed and that the United States should follow the lead of the European Union.
   'The U.S. trade laws reflect the longstanding lobbying efforts of primarily the domestic steel industry, which has manipulated legislation and procedure for commercial advantage for decades,' the organization said. 'U.S. laws are not in line with the laws of our trading partners.    The European Union, for example, has a lesser duty rule, a meaningful sunset process, no zeroing, and a prospective duty collection system.    The U.S. has none of these provisions in its law or practice.' ' Eric Johnson