WTO favors US in case against duties on steel

GENEVA - A World Trade Organization (WTO) panel on Friday backed the United States in a case against China's import duties on its grain oriented flat-rolled electrical steel (GOES).

"With respect to each of the 11 programs at issue, the panel concluded that China had acted inconsistently" with WTO rules governing the use of countervailing duties, the panel said in its ruling.

Some of the US claims, for example, China's Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) did not disclose the data and calculations it used to arrive at the dumping margins for the two respondent companies, were rejected by the panel.

MOFCOM said in a statement that China noticed that the panel of the WTO had supported China's key claims and found that China acted consistently with the WTO rules regarding various issues in dispute such as the use of "facts available" in calculating the subsidy rates of the responding companies and the disclosure of information on the subsidy benefit relating to the government purchase of goods.

"With regard to the Panel's findings on other issues in dispute, China will conduct further evaluation and reserves the right to appeal," it said.

MOFCOM initiated countervailing and anti-dumping investigations over the imports of GOES from the US in 2009 and decided to impose countervailing and anti-dumping duties on them in April 2010.

On September 15, 2010, the US filed the case to WTO and requested a consultation with China. The US requested the establishment of a panel on February 11, 2011, which then was established on March 25, 2011.