US accused of abusive remedy
- Source: Global Times
- [02:38 February 26 2010]
- Comments
China accused the US of abusing trade remedy measures Thursday, referring to the latest preliminary duties the US has decided to impose on Chinese "unfairly subsidized" steel pipes.
The US resorted to trade remedies against Chinese exports 23 times in 2009, involving $7.6 billion worth of exports from China, eight times more than in the previous year, commerce ministry spokesman Yao Jian pointed out at a regular press briefing Thursday.
"We attribute these to the abuse of trade remedies aimed to protect the domestic economy," Yao said.
The latest in the spate of beggar-thy-neighbor actions by the US was preliminary duties ranging from 11 to 13 percent announced Wednesday by the US Commerce Ministry on Chinese stainless steel pipe.
The decision marks a victory and more governmental protection for US steel groups and unions, who had complained in October of unfair subsidies for their Chinese counterparts.
A separate anti-dumping duty decision, usually much more severe than the countervailing duties, is also scheduled for this year.
Yao pointed out the US was pushed by industry lobbyist groups amid the financial crisis to take these measures.
"At present, the unemployment problem is pressuring governments that were already hit by the financial meltdown," Yao noted.
The US has been mired in unemployment since hitting a 26-year high of 10.1 percent in October.
"Suppose all nations follow the US to take similar measures, what kind of picture would world trade be?" Yao questioned.
World trade suffered its biggest collapse in 2009 since World War II, witnessing an unprecedented 12 percent drop.
"World trade has also been a casualty of the crisis, contracting in volume by around 12 percent in 2009," Pascal Lamy, director general of the World Trade Organization, said in Brussels on Wednesday.
Some protectionist response "was to be expected," he said, although he maintained that worries of "runaway protectionism" had proved an exaggeration.
"We take note of the US strengthening domestic protection amid efforts to expand its exports," Yao said, stressing that constraint of abusing trade remedies is a precondition to enhancing cooperation.
The US said a final determination is due May 10.
Global Times – Agencies
