The Commerce Ministry complained Wednesday that the duties of 522 per cent announced on cold-rolled steel used in automobiles and other manufacturing were excessive and called on Washington to rescind them.
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The US has raised the duty on Chinese cold-rolled steel more than five-fold in an attempt to curb the flooding of foreign products into its market.
The Commerce Ministry complained Wednesday that USA regulators hampered Chinese companies’ ability to defend themselves during an investigation and imposed excessively high penalties.
The original complaint was filed in July 2015 by major US producers United States Steel, AK Steel Corp., ArcelorMittal USA, Nucor Corp. and Steel Dynamics Inc.
China will take enforcement actions against the United States under the World Trade Organization dispute settlement framework to urge the latter to stop illegal anti-dumping activities, the ministry said Friday in a statement. The companies claimed they had been forced to lay off 12,000 steel workers over the past year as a result.
The US imported around $272m worth of cold-rolled steel products from China and $139m from Japan in 2015, according to Reuters.
Chinese companies affected by the duties include Baosteel Group, Angang Group Hong Kong Holdings Ltd, and Benxi Iron and Steel (Group) Special Steel Co Ltd.
The department also determined that producers and exporters of these Chinese products received countervailing subsidies of 256.44 percent.
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Beijing has defended itself against the allegations, saying it has done enough to reduce steel capacity and blaming global excess and weak demand for the industry’s woes.
