Washington: The US Commerce Department announced it has imposed anti-dumping tariffs of up to 99 percent on imports of Chinese tubular goods.
The department said it has "determined that Chinese producers/exporters have sold OCTG (oil country tubular goods) in the United States at prices ranging from zero to 99.14 percent less than normal value."
The duties will be imposed based on individual companies' dumping rates, the department said, adding that imports of OCTG from China were valued at an estimated 2.6 billion dollars in 2008.
Dumping occurs when a foreign company sells a product in the United States at less than normal value.
The announcement comes just ten days before President Barack Obama is due to make his first visit to China since taking office on November 15-18 and is the latest in a series of punitive tariffs the United States has imposed on Chinese goods.
In September, the United States announced it would slap duties on Chinese-made tires to protect local US industry, sparking the first major trade spat of Obama's presidency.
The Commerce Department in September said it had made a preliminary decision to impose duties of as much as 31 percent on Chinese carbon or alloy tubular steel products used in oil and gas wells, following claims they were backed by unfair subsidies.
That announcement drew a quick and angry response from Beijing.
"China is highly concerned over this matter. We strongly oppose such trade protectionist moves," a commerce ministry spokeswoman said at the time.
The Commerce Department said Thursday it had assessed that several Chinese companies were selling the tubes at 36.53 percent less than their normal value, and fixed a tariff rate of the same.
"All other Chinese producers/exporters will receive a preliminary dumping rate of 99.14 percent," the department said.
Several US companies and a major labor union had petitioned the Commerce Department to examine Chinese underpricing of the tubes, which include a variety of steel and iron products.
Bureau Report
First Published: Friday, November 06, 2009, 12:03