US steel pipe manufacturers, who have been battling a surge in imports from China, have won a major victory when the International Trade Commission cleared the way for the imposition of stiff penalty tariffs for the next five years. The commission yesterday voted 5-0 that the US industry was being harmed by the import of circular steel pipe. The decision marked the first time a US industry has won a decision to impose tariffs on a Chinese product based on the argument that the Chinese government was unfairly subsidising a Chinese industry.The ruling means penalty tariffs ranging from 99 per cent to 701 per cent will be imposed on Chinese imports of circular welded pipe, a form of pipe used in a variety of construction jobs, such as home plumbing and sprinkler systems.For more than two decades, the US government had refused to consider subsidy cases against China because China was classified as a non-market economy.However, the Bush administration, facing increasing anger over soaring trade deficits with China, reversed course last year and announced it would treat China in the same way as other countries in disputes involving government subsidies.The pipe case is the first to clear all the government hurdles for the tariffs to go into effect.
