US reject duties on steel wire from China, Mexico

26/04/2012 12:00 - 410 Views

WASHINGTON, April 23 (Reuters) - A U.S. trade panel on M onday rejected proposed duties on steel wire from China and Mexico after determining U.S. producers were not harmed or threatened by the imports.

The U.S. International Trade Commission voted 4-2 to deny duties in the case filed last year by steel wire companies in California, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Michigan and Oklahoma.

The panel also denied duties last week in two other cases involving refrigerators from South Korea and Mexico and steel wheels from China.

Altogether, the ITC rejected duties in three of five cases filed over two days last year, a development that could make some industry groups think twice before filing new requests for import relief.

In the steel wire case, the Commerce Department last month set duties ranging from 194 percent to 235 percent on imports from China and from 20.89 percent to 37.69 percent on imports from Mexico to offset "dumping," or selling in the United States at less than fair market value.

The department also set additional duties of 19.06 percent to 223.27 percent on the Chinese steel wire to "countervail" government subsidies.

Under the U.S. system, the International Trade Commission must find domestic producers have been materially injured or are threatened with material injury for anti-dumping or countervailing duties to take force.

Importers will be refunded bonds or cash deposits they were required to post based on preliminary duty rates.

Mon, Apr 23 2012
By Doug Palmer;
Editing by Sandra Maler and Dan Grebler
Source: reuters.com