India to Demand Removal of US Countervailing Duties on Steel.

ET reported that the Indian government is likely to press for removal of wrongfully imposed penal duties on Indian steel by the US at the India US trade policy forum meeting in Washington next week, which will be co chaired by India’s commerce minister Mr Anand Sharma and US trade representative Mr Ron Kirk. The two day meeting will begin on January 12.

India is preparing suitable responses to US allegations that it is hiding its industrial subsidies from the World Trade Organisation and flouting international trade norms by making local content requirement mandatory for its solar projects,.

A commerce department official told ET that "The US is likely to take up the issue of subsidies and local content and we will be ready with our answers.”

The official added that India may seek formal consultations with the US on the issue of imposition of countervailing duty, a levy imposed to neutralise the effect of subsidy given by the exporting country on Indian steel, which is making shipments unviable.

The official said that "The minister is likely to ask the US to engage in formal talks, which is the first step to be taken before dragging a country to the WTO.”

The US has assumed that since NMDC, which supplies iron ore to steel companies such as Essar, Jindal and TATA is a government body, its pricing is controlled by the government, amounting to a subsidy. Lawyers consulted by the commerce department, however, have said that since NMDC's prices are determined by the market, which can be conclusively proved, the countervailing duties imposed by the US could be challenged at the WTO.

Source : steelguru.com