The United States International Trade Commission (USITC) has surprised and caused a certain amount of consternation within American industry, by ruling, twice on the same day, that domestic manufacturers were not being harmed by imports from their Asian competitors.

Firstly, on April 17, the USITC determined that Whirlpool Corporation is not being materially injured or threatened with material injury by reason of imports of bottom mount refrigerator-freezers (having an integral source of refrigeration using compression technology) from South Korea, despite the determination by the US Department of Commerce (Commerce) that these are subsidized. Commerce had therefore found that imports of these products from South Korea, as well as from Mexico, are sold in the US at less than fair value.

As a result of the USITC's negative determinations, no anti-dumping or countervailing duty orders will be issued on imports of those products by Samsung and LG Electronics, although Whirlpool has yet to determine if it will appeal the decision.

Whirlpool, which filed anti-dumping and anti-subsidy petitions in March 2011, stated that it was “extremely disappointed” by the ruling. Marc Bitzer, President, Whirlpool North America, added that "we believe the facts clearly demonstrated that dumped imports of bottom-mount refrigerators from South Korea and Mexico are causing injury to the US industry.”

As could be expected, both Samsung and LG Electronics welcomed and applauded the USITC’s determination; the latter said that the decision “ends the baseless investigation launched a year ago by Whirlpool. LG respects fair trade and the rules of international trade and is gratified that its selling practices were found to be in accordance with these rules”.

Samsung made similar comments after what it described as “a lengthy investigation that has been costly to the US taxpayer, the result of which has been to prove that Samsung is in compliance with US trade law".

Then, the USITC also made a negative determination against Accuride Corporation, a leading US producer of steel wheels and other components to the commercial vehicle industry, and its co-petitioner Maxion Wheels, with regard to the imports of certain steel wheels from China that, again, Commerce had previously determined are subsidized and sold in the US at less than fair value, and that, therefore, no antidumping or countervailing duty orders would be issued on them.

Like Whirlpool, the co-petitioners are to review the written decision after it is issued and determine whether an appeal is appropriate.