WTO Backs Japan over Chinese Stainless Steel Tariffs

Reuters

14:07 JST, June 20, 2023

GENEVA (Reuters) – The World Trade Organization largely backed Japan on Monday in its challenge to Chinese anti-dumping duties imposed in 2019 on imports of Japanese stainless steel.

A three-person panel recommended in a report on the case that China bring its measures into conformity with WTO rules.

China imposed anti-dumping duties in July 2019 on stainless steel billets and hot-rolled plates and coils from Japan, South Korea, Indonesia and the European Union, arguing that a surge of imports was damaging its domestic industry.

For Nippon Yakin Kogyo Co, the duty was 18.1% and for other Japanese companies 29%, applicable for five years.

Japan contended that China had made errors in its comparison of prices and had failed to demonstrate that the imported products were in fact harming Chinese producers. The panel accepted a number of Japan’s arguments on these points.