Korea Wins Against US in WTO Anti-Dumping Steel Dispute... Impact of Arbitrary High Tariffs

WTO Circulates Panel Report… "All 8 US Anti-Dumping and Countervailing Duty Measures Applying AFA Found Inconsistent with Agreement"
Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy Expects Deterrent Effect Against AFA Application on Other Products

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[Sejong=Asia Economy Reporter Joo Sang-don] The Korean government won a dispute at the World Trade Organization (WTO) against the US government regarding anti-dumping and countervailing duties on steel and transformers.

The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy announced that the WTO circulated the panel report containing this decision on the 21st at 5 p.m. (Geneva local time).

Previously, the US government imposed high anti-dumping and countervailing duties on Korean steel and transformers by applying "Adverse Facts Available" (AFA). AFA is an investigative technique used in anti-dumping and countervailing duty investigations where the investigating authority disregards data submitted by the investigated company and uses adverse facts available to the company to increase the level of measures (dumping margin or subsidy rate). Since August 2015, the US amended its Tariff Act to significantly strengthen the discretion of investigating authorities when applying AFA, and from May 2016, it has applied AFA to Korean products, imposing high duties (up to 60.81%).

In response, despite the Korean government repeatedly raising issues regarding the application of AFA through bilateral and multilateral channels, the US measures continued, leading Korea to file a complaint with the WTO in February 2018. The WTO panel recognized the inconsistency of all eight challenged measures with WTO agreements and ruled in favor of Korea.

An official from the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy stated, "During the approximately three-year dispute period, we conducted thorough analysis of over 25,000 pages of evidence and engaged in intense oral and written arguments to secure this victory." He added, "We expect that this ruling will not only affect the eight products related to the winning measures but also help prevent unreasonable application of AFA to other export products."