Whirlpool, of Benton Harbor, Michigan, said it was seeking dumping duties against Gyeonggi, South Korea-based Samsung and Seoul-based LG in South Korea. Photo: Neal Hamberg/Bloomberg

Whirlpool Corp. (WHR), the world’s largest appliance maker, is being harmed by low-cost refrigerators from Mexico and South Korea, a U.S. trade panel ruled, paving the way for tariffs on those imports.

The U.S. International Trade Commission voted 5-0 in Washington today in a preliminary ruling on the petition by Whirlpool to get antidumping and countervailing duties imposed on so-called bottom-mount refrigerators made by Samsung Electronics Co. or LG Electronics Inc. (066570) in the two nations. LG said it will “aggressively contest” the decision.

The decision is the first of four the U.S. company must win before tariffs of as much as 183 percent are imposed. Whirlpool rose $1.28, or 1.5 percent, to $86.67 at 12:16 p.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite trading, after earlier climbing as much as 3.1 percent.

Imports made by LG have “in no manner injured Whirlpool,” Sam Kim, home appliances president for LG Electronics USA Inc., based in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, said in a statement.

Amy Grenek, a spokeswoman for Samsung, didn’t immediately respond to an e-mail seeking a response.

“This unanimous decision by the ITC validates the action we’ve taken to protect our 23,000 U.S. employees and the communities in which they work,” Jill Saletta, a spokeswoman for Whirlpool, said in a statement.

Imports of refrigerators of all types were valued last year at $2.3 billion from Mexico and $881 million from South Korea, the Commerce Department said. The bottom-mount models have the freezer on the bottom and are more energy efficient, according to a Whirlpool statement.

Whirlpool Complaint

Whirlpool, of Benton Harbor, Michigan, on March 30 said it was seeking dumping duties against Gyeonggi, South Korea-based Samsung and Seoul-based LG in South Korea of 33 percent to 62 percent. From Mexico the dumping duty would be as much as 183 percent, according to Whirlpool’s petition to the Commerce Department.
Dumping refers to selling a product at a discount in a foreign market. Countervailing duties are meant to offset government subsidies provided to a manufacturer.
To contact the reporters on this story: Mark Drajem in Washington at mdrajem@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Larry Liebert at lliebert@bloomberg.net