China will properly handle U.S. steel case

The Ministry of Commerce vowed on Friday that China will property handle a World Trade Organization (WTO) ruling in a dispute over U.S. exports of a specialty steel product after its appeal against the ruling was rejected.

The WTO Appellate Body on Thursday turned down China's appeal against a panel ruling over the country's import duties on U.S. grain oriented flat-rolled electrical steel (GOES) and upheld the panel's findings.

China will carefully evaluate the WTO reports and handle the case in line with WTO rules, a trade treaty and law official at the ministry said.

Although the Appellate Body backed the main conclusions made by the panel, it ruled in China's favor that it is unnecessary for the panel to prove there is a cause-and-effect relation between the price effect and dumping or subsidies in the price effect evaluation, the official said.

The Appellate Body also clarified some provisions in the WTO Anti-Dumping Agreement and Subsidy and Anti-Subsidy Measures Agreement involved in the case, which will help investigation bodies of WTO members to accurately apply anti-dumping and anti-subsidy rules, the official said.

China made an appeal to the WTO on July 20 following a panel report released by the body on June 15 backing most of the U.S. claims that China had acted inconsistently with WTO rules regarding the use of countervailing duties.

China initiated countervailing and anti-dumping investigations over the imports of GOES from the United States in 2009 and decided to impose countervailing and anti-dumping duties on them in April 2010.

On Sept. 15, 2010, the United States requested consultations with China on the issue and requested the establishment of a panel on Feb. 11, 2011, which was established on March 25, 2011.