U.S. to continue probes into stainless steel sinks from China

The U.S. International Trade Commission determined on April 13 the U.S. industry was “materially injured” by importing stainless steel sinks from China， according to Xinhua.

The commission believed there was “a reasonable indication” that the industry was threatened with material injury by imports of stainless steel sinks from China that were allegedly sold on the U.S. market at a less than fair value and subsidized by the Chinese government.

The USITC’s move would allow the U.S. Department of Commerce to continue its investigations on imports of these products. The preliminary countervailing duty (CVD) determination is due around May 25， 2012， while the anti-dumping (AD) one is due around August 6， 2012.

These investigations， started on March 22 by the Commerce， intend to impose anti-dumping duty ranging from 22.81 percent to 76.53 percent and countervailing duty at above 2 percent.

The United States consumed about 303.9 million dollars of stainless steel sinks in 2011， among which nearly 119.1 million U. S. dollars of products were from China， according to the USITC.

Comment

Such action would further fuel the protectionist sentiment in the United States. Trade tensions with China are a particularly sensitive issue as the United States is trying to boost its exports to revitalize a flagging economy and slash the unemployment rate in the aftermath of the 2008 financial meltdown and subsequent global economic recession.