The U.S. International Trade Commission on Thursday rejected charges by the U.S. steel industry that seamless stainless pipes imported from Japan are hurting U.S. makers.
The six-member panel, an independent federal agency, dismissed the case in a final ruling in a 4-2 vote. With the ruling, punitive duties set earlier by the Commerce Department are erased.
The Commerce Department had determined that Japanese steelmakers dumped seamless stainless pipe products in the U.S. market, setting the dumping margin at 156.81 percent on imports from Sumitomo Metal Industries Ltd. and Sanyo Special Steel Co., and 62.14 percent on imports from all other Japanese makers.
Six U.S. steelmakers and the United Steelworkers of America filed a petition with the Commerce Department and the ITC last October, charging that Japanese seamless stainless pipes had been sold at unfair prices in the United States and the imports were hurting U.S. makers.