On Thursday, West Chester, Ohio-based AK Steel said that the Chinese Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) announced its implementation of the recommendations and rulings of the World Trade Organization (WTO) Dispute Settlement Body (DSB) regarding MOFCOM's flawed investigation regarding imports of grain oriented electrical steel (GOES) from the United States.
While the determination released Thursday reduces the duties on imports of GOES produced by AK Steel, it fails to comply with the WTO rulings and recommendations, according to the steelmaker. Under WTO rules, antidumping and countervailing duties can only be applied if the administering authority determines, based on positive evidence and an objective examination of the evidence, that the domestic industry is materially injured by reason of the dumped and subsidized imports.
AK Steel explained that in the GOES case, a WTO dispute panel found that MOFCOM's findings on injury and causation violated China's WTO obligations because, among other things, they were not based on positive evidence and an objective examination of the evidence. Moreover, the panel found that MOFCOM did not analyze other significant factors affecting domestic industry performance that the panel found were important to any valid causation determination. Notwithstanding the WTO's rulings, and without collecting any new or additional evidence, it appears that MOFCOM has simply reiterated essentially the same findings on injury and causation without even addressing the flaws identified by the panel and the Appellate Body.
AK Steel said that it will request that the US Government seek WTO authorization to impose retaliatory tariffs against certain imports from China until China comes into compliance by revoking the antidumping and countervailing duty measures on GOES from the United States.