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April 24, 2010

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Pipe duties may worsen row

THE United States Commerce Department has set preliminary anti-dumping duties on imports of certain seamless pipes from China, a move that might escalate trade rows between the two countries.

The department said on Thursday that it "preliminarily determined Chinese firms have sold seamless pipes in the United States at 32.39 to 98.37 percent less than fair value."

As a result of this preliminary determination, the department will instruct US Customs and Border Protection to collect a cash deposit or bond based on preliminary rates.

The products covered by this investigation are suitable for the conveyance of water, steam, petrochemicals, oil products, natural gas, and other liquids and gases in industrial piping systems.

Imports of certain seamless pipes from China were valued at an estimated US$182.3 million last year, according to the department.

The department said that it is currently scheduled to make its final determination in September.

If it makes an affirmative final determination, and the US International Trade Commission makes an affirmative final determination that imports of certain seamless pipes from China materially injures, or threaten material injury to, the domestic industry, the department will issue an anti-dumping duty order.

The new case followed the department's initiation of anti-dumping and countervailing duty probes into Chinese aluminum extrusions on Wednesday.

The protectionist moves by the Obama administration will ultimately hurt the US-China trade relations, which are becoming more important due to the global financial crisis, economists warned.

The onset of the global recession appears to have set off an increase in trade disputes around the world.

Globally, new requests for protection from imports in the first half of last year are up 18.5 percent over the first half of 2008, according to the World Bank-sponsored database.



 

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