Trade Cases

Brazil Challenges U.S. HR & CR Duties at WTO

Written by Sandy Williams


The Brazilian Steel Association has requested that the World Trade Organization initiate a “bilateral consultation” with the United States regarding the countervailing duties applied against imports of Brazilian hot and cold-rolled steel.

The Association claims that the U.S. Department of Commerce did not take into consideration in their determination of “actionable subsidies” the explanations by the Brazilian government that the industrial policies in question are applied to any industry and are not specific to the steel industry.

If necessary following the consultation by the WTO, Brazil will ask for a Dispute Settlement Panel to settle whether the U.S. methodology in its AD/CVD determinations was in error. The Association requests the bilateral consultation to be held in November.

In the Brazil cold rolled AD investigation, Commerce calculated final dumping margins ranging from 14.43 percent to 35.43 percent. Commerce calculated final subsidy rates in the CVD investigation ranging from 11.09 percent and 11.31 percent.

In the Brazil hot rolled AD investigation, Commerce calculated dumping margins ranging from 33.14 percent to 34.28 percent. Final subsidy rates ranged between 11.09 percent and 11.30 percent.

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