Chinese makers of steel pipes such as Tianjin Pipe Group Corp. will face import duties after the U.S. Commerce Department ruled in the favor of a complaint by U.S. Steel Corp.
Importers from China must pay dumping duties of as much as 98.74 percent on pipes used to transport water, natural gas and steam in plumbing and heating systems, the department said yesterday in a statement. Separate duties to compensate for subsidies those makers receive will be as much as 53.65 percent, the department said.
China, which had a $227 billion trade surplus with the U.S. in 2009, has been the subject of more complaints filed over unfair trade than any other nation, according to data compiled by the World Bank.
U.S. Steel, based in Pittsburgh, was joined in a petition seeking duties by the U.S. subsidiary of France’s Vallourec SA, the world’s second-largest maker of steel tubes for oil and gas production, and the United Steelworkers union.
Tianjin Pipe, based in Tianjin, will face a combined dumping and countervailing duty rate of 62.65 percent. Hengyang Valin Steel Tube Co. and related companies will face a combined duty of 135.68 percent. All companies not singled out for a review must pay a dumping rate of 98.74 percent and a countervailing duty of 33.66 percent, the agency said.
“In the face of the still-not-sound world economy, we do not want to see unfair restrictions on foreign exports to the United States,” said Wang Baodong, a spokesman for the Chinese Embassy in Washington. “Instead we should work together to find how to better expand bilateral cooperation.”
U.S. Steel and domestic products have cleared three of four steps in seeking to impose duties on the pipe. Importers are required to deposit the duties, pending a final decision by the U.S. International Trade Commission on Oct. 25.
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