THE United States slapped Chinese steelmakers with final import duties of 522 percent on cold-rolled flat steel Tuesday after finding that their products were being sold in the U.S. market “below cost and with unfair subsidies.”
The U.S. Commerce Department said the duties effectively will increase by more than five-fold the import prices on Chinese-made cold-rolled flat steel products, which totaled US$272.3 million in 2015.
Cold-rolled steel is primarily used in automotive body panels, appliances, shipping containers and construction.
The rulings by the Commerce Department come amid escalating U.S.-China trade tensions, especially in the steel sector, where both U.S. and European producers claim China has distorted world pricing by “dumping its excess output abroad” as demand at home slows.
(SD-Agencies)
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