India takes US steel duty dispute to WTO

27 Aug 2012 Evaluate

India has approached the World Trade Organization to set up a panel to adjudicate on its dispute with the United States over the duties imposed by them on some imports of Indian steel products. India had lodged a complaint in April that US had wrongly slapped punitive tariffs, on certain hot rolled carbon steel flat products from India. The country had failed to resolve the issue via consultations with the United States.

In December 2001, US had imposed the countervailing duties and further extended the duty after six years. It had fixed duty nearly 286% on some steel pipes. India claims that it does not comply with WTO rules. Countervailing duties are imposed by countries when they believe that their domestic manufacturers are suffering losses because of competition from unfairly subsidized imports.

However, steel manufacturers in India buy a large amount of their iron ore from the state-owned National Mineral Development Corporation (NMDC), the country's largest iron ore producer. India is arguing against US conclusions that the corporation sells iron ore at prevailing market rates.

The United States is also in dispute with China over the US use of countervailing duties on a range of imports, including several types of steel products. China requested consultations on May 25 but has not yet asked for a panel to be set up.

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