In the month of August 2018, U.S. had imposed a hefty preliminary anti-dumping duty (ADD) on large diameter welded pipes imported from India, China and four other countries including Canada, Greece, South Korea, and Turkey in a move to protect the domestic steel sector and lower its trade deficit. The department has acted on the complaint filed in Jan’18 by six U.S. companies.
Now as per the latest updates, on Thursday, the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) has determined that country’s domestic producers are being harmed by the cheap imports of ‘welded carbon and alloy line and structural steel pipes with a diameter larger than 16 inches’ coming from India and China.
This means that the preliminary ADD of 50.55% and 132.63% on imports of pipes (above specifications) coming from India and China respectively will remain in place for the period of five years. In 2017, India exported USD 294.7 million (INR 2,058 crore) worth of metal pipes to U.S.
Last month i.e. in Oct’18, U.S.’s DoC (Department of Commerce) had said that the imports of welded pipes were being unfairly subsidized and dumped in the U.S. market, and announced duties to protect domestic producers. The ITC’s decision on Thursday is the final determination that ADD announced by DoC will continue to remain in place.
In August month itself when U.S. had announced preliminary duties on pipes imports from six countries, the country’s DoC had mentioned that department would announce the final decision of its investigation of alleged dumping practices of China and India in November and that in the case of other four countries Canada, Greece, Korea, and Turkey, the department will announce the final determinations of the investigation on or around January 3, 2019.
The trade ties between India and the United States have hit a rocky patch in recent months. In Jun’18, India has announced higher duties on several goods imported from the United States in retaliation to President Donald Trump imposing hefty tariffs on steel and aluminum imports.
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