Import Duties Imposed
The International Trade Commission (ITC) of the United States decided on May 5 to impose anti-dumping duties on carbon and alloy steel cut-to-length (CTL) plates imported from the eight countries including South Korea. The ITC also imposed countervailing duties on those imported from South Korea, claiming that the South Korean government’s subsidies are predicted to affect the industry in the United States.
The anti-dumping and countervailing duties on the South Korean products are 7.39% and 4.31%, respectively. The anti-dumping duties on those imported from Belgium, France, Italy and Japan amount to up to 51.78%, 148.02%, 22.19% and 48.67% with Adverse Facts Available (AFA) rates applied.
The ITC is planning to notify the U.S. Department of Commerce of its decision on May 18. Then, the U.S. Department of Commerce notifies the U.S. Customs and Border Protection of it and the tariffs become effective.
The Ministry of Trade, Industry & Energy of South Korea said in response that it would file a lawsuit with the World Trade Organization (WTO) in the event of excessive punitive tariffs in the form of AFA and Particular Market Situation (PMS). In addition, the ministry is going to bring lawyers, accountants and scholars specialized in international trade into its task force against import restrictions and prepare measures against Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act and so on. At the same time, the South Korean government is planning to make better use of bilateral negotiations and multilateral channels such as the WTO Anti-Dumping Committee