Russia Business List #535 Tuesday, March 11, 2003
4. U.S. Duties Loom for Metal Firms Combined Reports 11/3/03
BA - US retribution is swift and painful. The surprising thing in all this is that Kremlin seems to have regained enough confidence - thanks to the booming economy which has been achieved without foreign investment remember - that it is willing to risk the wrath of US. BA
WASHINGTON -- The U.S. International Trade Commission on Friday gave final approval to anti-dumping duties of up to 79.42 percent on silicon metal from Russia.
Three of the panel's four current commissioners voted in favor of the duties on the grounds that imports from Russia had "materially injured" domestic producers.
The fourth commissioner did not participate in the case.
The action clears the way for the Commerce Department to impose anti-dumping duties ranging from 56.11 to 79.42 percent on the silicon metal imports.
Silicon metal is used primarily in the production of aluminum and to make certain organic chemicals known as silicones.
Semiconductor-grade silicon was not included in the anti-dumping investigation.
Russian firms exported some 34,153 tons of contained silicon to the United States in 2001, which accounted for about 12.3 percent of U.S. domestic consumption that year, the ITC said.
The United States is also threatening other economic penalties against Russia in what a senior U.S. diplomat in Moscow last week said was in retaliation for the Kremlin's increasingly tough stance against Washington's pursuit of war on Iraq.
U.S. Trade Representative Robert Zoellick said Russia might face U.S. trade retaliation if it does not remove import barriers for meat.
Zoellick told the Senate Finance Committee last week that he would not shrink from that course of action if necessary to help persuade Russia to drop the restrictions.
"Since they're not a WTO member, there's a full range of options, and they all ought to be on the table," Zoellick said.
Russia would not be able to challenge the action at the World Trade Organization because it is not a member.
Zoellick's comments came the same day a senior American diplomat said Russia risks membership in the WTO if it vetoes a new UN Security Council resolution paving the way for war on Iraq.