China asks for WTO panel in US shrimp case

19/10/2011 12:00 - 426 Views

The Chinese government has asked members of the World Trade Organization to establish a dispute settlement panel to hear its complaint about the way the United States applied anti-dumping duties to imports of shrimp.

China’s request comes at a time when the U.S. and Chinese governments have become particularly testy over trade matters. Two days before China requested panels in the shrimp case, as well as another dealing with saw blades, the U.S. Senate voted in favor of the Currency Exchange Rate Oversight Reform Act of 2011, legislation aimed at penalizing China and other countries for undervaluing their currencies.

China’s request to the WTO goes to the trade watchdog’s Dispute Settlement Body. The U.S. can block the request once, after which the panel is automatically established.

In its complaint, made public late last week, China said efforts to resolve the issue in talks with the United States on May 11 and September 8 “failed to resolve the dispute.” Therefore China said it is requesting a dispute panel.

China’s complaint centers on the controversial "zeroing" methodology used by the U.S. Department of Commerce to calculate dumping margins.

Several WTO panels have found the U.S. "zeroing" methodology illegal.

10/18/2011

By Ian Elliott

Source: feedstuffs.com