India takes U.S. to WTO for failing to drop steel duties

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India has complained to the World Trade Organization that the United States has failed to drop anti-subsidy duties on certain Indian steel products after losing an earlier ruling, a document published by the WTO said on Friday.

India said the United States had failed to meet an April 2016 deadline to comply with a WTO ruling that faulted it for imposing countervailing duties on hot-rolled carbon steel flat products from India.

The non-compliance complaint, effectively a new trade dispute, could lead to India asking to impose trade sanctions if the United States is found not to have complied.

India brought the original complaint to the WTO in April 2012, after the U.S. Commerce Department set an import duty of nearly 286 percent on a circular welded carbon-quality steel pipe from India to offset government subsidies.

The Commerce Department did this after a petition from Allied Tube and Conduit, JMC Steel Group, Wheatland Tube and United States Steel Corp.

In the extremely complex case, India argued that the price of the steel pipe was set by the market, but the United States said the iron ore used to make it came from a state-run mining firm, NMDC, effectively subsidizing Indian exporters

India’s complaint alleging U.S. non-compliance listed 14 areas where it said the United States was in breach of the international trade rules.

If the two sides cannot settle the matter within 14 days, India could ask a WTO dispute resolution panel to adjudicate.

Reuters