Trade Cases
China Questions Legitimacy of EU Duties on Hot Rolled Steel
Written by Sandy Williams
June 11, 2017
China strongly condemned new antidumping and countervailing duties imposed Friday by the European Union on imports of hot-rolled flat steel from China. The EC applied definitive AD/CVD duties of up to 35.9 percent.
Commerce ministry official Wang Hejun said in a statement on Friday, “The European Commission ignores the fact that China’s steel exports to Europe clearly declined in 2016, using China’s steel overcapacity as an excuse to claim that China’s hot-rolled flat steel products threaten to damage industry in the EU when that is mere speculation with little bearing on reality.
“China strongly questions the legitimacy and legality of the European Commission’s ruling,” added Wang.
He argued that state-owned Chinese banks are independent market entities and that the EC continues to mistake bank loans as preferential lending. “It even disregarded basic financial facts by mistaking some bank loans directly as bestowal, inflating the subsidy range and seriously infringing the rights of Chinese companies,” he said.
Wang contended that not only does China not subsidize steel exports, it has taken steps to reduce them. “It is biased and unfair for Europe to blame China for its own industrial issues,” he said. “Unjustified accusations and reckless trade rescue measures will not help to solve the problem.”
EU Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmstroem said the Commission is trying to “level the playing field” and protect European steelmakers from the flood of exports from China. “We are continuing to act, when necessary, against unfair trading conditions in the steel sector, and against foreign dumping,” Malmstroem said in a statement.
Sandy Williams
Read more from Sandy WilliamsLatest in Trade Cases
Price on Trade: IEEPA tariffs head to the Supreme Court, DOJ ramps up trade enforcement
International trade law and policy remain a hot topic in Washington and beyond this week. We are paying special attention to the ongoing litigation of the president’s tariff policies and the administration’s efforts to heighten trade enforcement.
Mexico considers stiff tariffs for steel, autos, and other imports
Mexico is considering imposing steep tariffs on imports of steel, automobiles, and over 1,400 other products. Its target? Countries with which it does not have free trade agreements, mainly China, India, Thailand, and other South Asian nations.
Leibowitz: With ‘reciprocal’ tariffs struck down again in court, what happens next?
President Trump’s “reciprocal” tariffs under the International Emergency Economic Policy Act (IEEPA) were struck down again, this time on Aug. 29 by the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC). The legal and policy mess continues, with the next stop being the US Supreme Court.
Market unfazed by US circuit court’s IEEPA decision
Repealing any reciprocal tariffs placed by President Donald Trump on US imports of direct reduced iron (DRI), iron ore, hot-briquetted iron (HBI), and pig iron would have only a nominal impact on the US steel market, market participants said.
ITC votes to keep HR duties after sunset review
The US government determined this week that hot-rolled steel imports from a handful of countries continue to threaten the domestic steel industry.