Germany urges EU to file WTO complaint against US

Germany urged the European Union on Friday to consider filing a complaint with the World Trade Organization (WTO) against the United States over its plan to impose duties on imports of steel plate from five EU member states.

US President Donald Trump is expected to sign executive orders on Friday aimed at identifying abuses causing huge US trade deficits. He is also preparing to meet Chinese President Xi next week in Florida, with contentious trade issues likely to be high on the agenda.

Global steel prices have slumped as Chinese producers, who account for about half of the worldwide steel supply, have flooded the export markets, leading to protests and anti-dumping complaints by the United States, the European Union and others.

On Thursday, the US Department of Commerce issued a final finding that European and Asian producers dumped certain carbon and alloy steel cut-to-length plate in the US market, allowing it to impose duties ranging from 3.62 percent to 148 percent.

Among the affected companies are firms in Germany, Austria, Belgium, France and Italy.

German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel said the US government seemed prepared to give US firms an "unfair competitive advantage" over European producers even though this violated international trade law.

"We Europeans cannot accept this. The EU must now examine whether it also files a complaint at the WTO. I strongly support this," Gabriel said. The European Commission, the EU's executive arm, is in charge of trade matters in the 28-member bloc.

"The WTO rules are the backbone of the international trade order. To deliberately violate them is a dangerous step," he said. "It is the first time that the US in such a case resorts to distorting practices that do not comply with the WTO rules."

In Brussels, a spokesman for the European Commission said it regretted the US move to impose anti-dumping measures, adding that the duties were "artificially inflated".

"Our comments and notably those concerning the use by the US of methodologies which artificially inflate the preliminary dumping margins have not been given expected consideration," the spokesman said.

The final duties were in many cases higher than the preliminary duties set in November. "We will look now into the detail of the decision taken by the US and consider the appropriate steps," he said.

Gabriel said Germany had to stand up to the US and fight "accounting tricks" that put Germany's internationally competitive steel industry at a disadvantage.

"If the US got through with unfair competition, other industries would also be subject to the same threat," Gabriel warned.

Economy Minister Brigitte Zypries said Germany would, along with the European Commission, continue to campaign for Washington to stick to WTO rules.

SS