United States Prevails In Enforcement Dispute With China Over Grain Oriented Electrical Steel -

On July 31, the World Trade Organization (WTO) issued a ruling in favor of the United States in a dispute over China's compliance with the prior recommendations and rulings of the WTO Dispute Settlement Body (DSB) regarding China's conduct of investigations that resulted in the imposition of antidumping (AD) and countervailing duty (CVD) orders with respect to U.S. exports of grain-oriented electrical steel (GOES). This marks the first time since its accession to the WTO in 2001 that China has been found to have failed to comply with an adverse DSB ruling. As China already allowed the illegal trade remedy measures to "sunset" in April 2015 in anticipation of the release of the compliance panel's report, the issuance of the ruling serves more as a rebuke to systemic deficiencies in China's administration of its trade remedy laws than as a directive with any practical impact on U.S. exports of GOES.

The dispute arose after China imposed AD and CVD orders on GOES from the United States in April 2010. The AD duties ranged as high as 64.8 percent, and the CVD rates ranged as high 44.6 percent. The imposition of these duties effectively closed a market worth more than $260 million to U.S. producers of GOES.