Electric blankets face stiff US duties

BEIJING - The United States announced preliminary anti-dumping duties on Chinese-made electric blankets on Monday, despite a consensus against trade protectionism being claimed as the Toronto G20 summit's main achievement just the previous day.

Analysts anticipate that such cases will occur more frequently in the next three to five years and said China is unlikely to take any substantial countermeasures in the near future.

The duties would range from 90 to nearly 175 percent, imposed on about $30 million worth of electric blankets from China, said the US Commerce Department.