Finding Clears Way for Hefty Duties on Chinese Pipe - as much as 616%

[The Straight Story]

Finding Clears Way for Hefty Duties on Chinese Pipe
Saturday, June 21, 2008
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Wall Street Journal By TOM BARKLEY


WASHINGTON -- In a big victory for U.S. pipe makers, the U.S. International Trade Commission cleared the way for hefty import duties on standard steel pipe from China.

The Commerce Department determined last month that countervailing duties of as much as 616% will be charged on the pipe, which is used in plumbing and heating, air conditioning and automatic sprinkler systems. The department also set antidumping duties of up to 85.55%. But before the duties could go into effect, the ITC was required to find, as it did Friday, that U.S. producers are being harmed by the subsidized imports.

The ruling also marks a major change in U.S. trade policy toward China. Last year, the Commerce Department started pursuing countervailing-duty cases against China after shunning investigations of alleged subsidies because it classified China as a nonmarket economy.

Friday's decision drew immediate praise from prominent China critics in Congress, including Sen. Barack Obama, the Democratic presidential candidate. "The ITC's determination today was the only responsible response," the Illinois senator said in a statement. "The United States must always use the full range of multilateral and bilateral tools to insist that China and all other nations abide by the rules that govern the economic policies of nations."

http://obama.senate.gov/news/080621-finding_clears/

[Clark2008]

1. Now... can we get tariff's on cheap plastic junk and clothes

and then get our citizenry back to work in factories making not-so-cheap plastic stuff and clothes?

[Wickerman]

2. Guess the pipe layers have a good lobbyist

sure isn't going to help the trade imbalance in any meaningful way - might drive up the cost of US made pipe as a S/D issue.

[Speck Tater]

3. Don't forget pipe used in oil drilling.

I read on another site (can't find the url just now) that many oil drilling projects are stalled because of shortages of steel pipe.

[jmowreader]

4. "Standard steel pipe" is also called black iron pipe

It's only used for one thing--gas service. That's a HUGE thing, but no one uses it for anything else. If you use steel pipe for anything having to do with water, you use galvanized pipe, not black iron. Most people either use copper or some sort of synthetic pipe for water, and synthetic pipe is the standard for drain/waste/vent applications.

Okay, it's used for two things--gas service and "non-plumbing" applications--cheater bars, chin-up bars, handrails...

This is a really good decision. China was killing the US pipe industry.