The Mheda Journal

In the February 15 issue of The MHEDA Connection, MHEDA’s e-newsletter, we posted a story called “China Decries Dumping Duties.” It was an update on the ongoing battle between U.S.-based wire decking manufacturers AWP Industries, ITC Manufacturing, J&L Wire Cloth, Nashville Wire Products and Wireway/Husky Corp. and the Chinese government regarding the cost of imported wire mesh decking.

In response, Steve Johnson, vice president of sales at Nashville Wire Products, and a member of MHEDA’s Manufacturers Board of Advisors, sent us the following letter from the counsel for the U.S. Wire Decking Coalition

Please direct any responses or comments to Steve at sjohnson@nashvillewire.com.

“Recently, the Chinese government expressed objection to the U.S. imposition of antidumping and countervailing duties of imports of a variety of downstream steel products, including imports of wire decking. The Chinese Government asserts that these measures are straining its economic relationship with the United States.

“What the Chinese Government neglects to mention is that the actions by the wire decking manufacturers in filing trade cases, and the imposition of duties by the U.S. government, are fully consistent with the international trade agreements China and the United States signed. The international agreements expressly permit the imposition of these duties when unfairly traded imports injure U.S. manufacturers. In response to petitions filed by domestic wire decking manufacturers, the U.S. government preliminary found that wire decking is being dumped, or sold at less than its fair value, in the U.S. market by huge margins ranging from 43 to 289 percent. The U.S. government also found that the Chinese government is providing  illegal subsidies to Chinese wire decking producers. Final decisions in these case are due in May.

“Similarly, in a preliminary decision, the U.S. International Trade Commission concluded that these unfair trade practices are injuring domestic wire decking manufacturers. The Commission found that the unfair imports from China significantly undercut U.S. prices and caused the domestic industry to suffer declines in production, shipments, employment and profits. In an already difficult year due to the nationwide recession, the increasing volumes of low-priced imports from China have decimated U.S. wire decking manufacturing operations and cost many workers their jobs.

“Moreover, the Chinese Government fails to mention the widespread practice by many Chinese industries of illegally circumventing the trade orders. Chinese exporters advertise to U.S. customers their willingness to transship merchandise or mislabel the country of origin of the product to evade the duties lawfully imposed.

“So, while China may ‘decry’ these duties, it cannot argue that the imposition of the duties is unwarranted or unlawful. In fact, the duties imposed are not punitive at all, but are merely intended to offset the amount of the unfair trading practices and to level the playing field for U.S. manufacturers. Enforcement of U.S. trade laws to protect domestic manufacturers and their employees from unfair trading practices is expressly recognized as lawful internationally and should not strain relations between countries. The Chinese government should be concerned with living up to its own trade obligations by ceasing illegal subsidies and cracking down on scofflaws who seek to circumvent U.S. trade orders.”

–  Kathleen W. Cannon, Kelley, Drye & Warren

Pretty heady stuff. You can leave a comment here or send it directly to Steve at sjohnson@nashvillewire.com.

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Tags: material handling, politics, storage & handling

This entry was posted on Monday, March 1st, 2010 at 5:55 pm and is filed under material handling, storage and handling. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.