RARE RULING:Raising the duty 10 times higher than the previous decision is uncommon, and other nations were not handed such steep hikes, an official said

Taipei Times
Date: May 27, 2017
By: Lauly Li / Staff reporter

The US Department of Commerce on Wednesday dramatically raised an anti-dumping duty on carbon and alloy steel plates from Taiwan’s China Steel Corp (CSC, 中鋼) from 6.95 percent to 75.42 percent in an amended final decision that affects imports from eight countries, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday.

The ruling came one day after the US International Trade Commission initiated an investigation into imports of solar cells and modules, including products from Taiwan, the ministry’s Bureau of Foreign Trade said.

“We think the amended anti-dumping duty indicates a move toward trade protectionism by the US government,” a bureau official, who declined to be named, said by telephone.

The department on April 28 last year began an anti-dumping investigation on imports of carbon and steel alloy cut-to-length plates from eight countries — Taiwan, South Korea, Japan, Italy, Germany, France, Belgium and Austria.    [FULL  STORY]