WTO rules in favor of US in antidumping case
The Office of the US Trade Representative (USTR) announced Wednesday that the WTO Appellate Body has ruled in favor of the United States for an anti-dumping proceeding on steel pipeline components from Mexico. The dispute, involving oil-country tubular goods (OCTG), required a “sunset review,” a process to determine whether duties on dumped imports should remain in place for over five years. USTR spokesperson Christin Baker said of the Appellate Body's ruling, “We are pleased with today's report, which confirms our view that the United States conducted this antidumping proceeding in a manner consistent with our WTO obligations. We applaud the Appellate Body's insistence that panel findings have a solid factual and analytical basis. This report will further strengthen the effectiveness and credibility of the WTO dispute settlement system, and vindicates the application of U.S. trade remedy laws in this case.” According to the USTR press release, the Appellate Body reversed a WTO panel finding that the US Department of Commerce's Sunset Policy Bulletin is inconsistent with WTO rules, while upholding a finding that the US International Trade Commission had not broken WTO rules in the sunset proceeding on oil-country tubular goods. The United States did not appeal a separate finding that the Commerce Department should have taken more evidence into account in the sunset proceeding, and Mexico did not appeal findings favoring the US on its conduct of a separate proceeding on OCTG.