US Imposes Duties on Two More China Products

Continuing its trade war with China, the US has issued sanctions on two more China products.

In a statement, the US Commerce Department said it would slap preliminary duties, a whopping 109 percent on potassium salts and up to 13 percent on coated paper to offset government subsidies.

The actions add to bilateral tensions following other U.S. trade sanctions and tit-for-tat moves by Beijing, and charges by some U.S. groups that China was manipulating its currency for trade gains.

Potassium salts are used in industrial cleaning products, fertilizers and food additives while coated paper is used in printing of corporate annual reports and high-end catalogues and magazines.

The U.S. Commerce Department said in separate statements that it had “preliminarily determined” that Chinese producers and exporters of the two products had received subsidies equivalent to the duties that were imposed.

“As a result of this preliminary determination, Commerce will instruct U.S. Customs and Border Protection to collect a cash deposit or bond based on these preliminary rates,” the statement said.

From 2006 to 2008, imports of certain potassium phosphate salts from China increased 228 percent by volume and were valued at about $16.4 million, the department said. A final determination is to be made in May.

The department said that it would also impose 17.48 percent preliminary duties on certain coated paper imported from Indonesia over the same issue of government subsidies. The final determination for the coated paper cases will be made in July.

In the latest high-profile trade action, the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC), an independent federal agency, made a “final decision” to impose duties on imported Chinese steel pipes targeted for unfair subsidies.

In the Dec. 31 decision, the commission said that the subsidized pipes adversely impacted the domestic steel industry and asked the Commerce Department to impose countervailing duties of up to nearly 16 percent.

It was the largest countervailing duty case filed against China, based on the US$2.6 billion trade value for the item in 2008.