UAE exporters should be ready for more trade protectionism measures from the United States after steel pipe imports from Abu Dhabi and Dubai were hit with anti-dumping charges over unfair competition.
On Friday, the United States International Trade Commission said that it would impose the charges after a department of commerce investigation had determined that circular welded carbon-quality steel pipe had been sold below market price.
The case was brought after complaints were received from two Missouri-based steel tube manufacturers and two more based in California and Illinois.
The US commerce department on October 24 said that it had determined that margins of 6.43 per cent should be applied on steel pipe imports from Abu Dhabi-based Ajmal Steel Tubes & Pipes and margins of 5.58 per cent on imports from Dubai-based Universal Tube and Plastic Industries.
All other imports of the pipe from the UAE will face a final dumping margin of 5.95 per cent.
Friday’s announcement from the commission effectively confirmed this “final determination”.
All six commissioners voted to issue anti-dumping duty orders on the pipe imports from the UAE and Oman.
Utkarsh Dwivedi, the chief executive of Ajmal Steel Tubes & Pipes, said that the company would not challenge the decision.
“These are government charges and so we will have to abide by them. We do not think it is fair but what can you do? They are government,” he said. “We do not believe that these charges will make a big difference to our business. We will continue to export to our loyal customers in the USA who we have been supplying for the last seven or eight years.”
According to the commerce department, the UAE was the second largest exporter to the US of this type of steel pipe, which are used for fence tubing and in plumbing and heating systems, air-conditioning units and automatic sprinkler systems.
In 2014, the US imported about US$59.4 million worth of circular welded carbon-quality steel pipe from the UAE, according to the US department of commerce.
The news comes as exporters to the US face the prospect of a hike in punitive anti-dumping tariffs on imports – such as steel – following the election of Donald Trump to the White House this month on a platform of protectionist measures aimed at saving American jobs.
“Anti-dumping measures are a growing area and we are seeing more and more countries enforcing such rules more vigorously as they look to protect their own industries from cheap imports,” said Udayan Mukherjee, a partner at the law firm Dentons & Co in Dubai.
“As we look towards a Trump presidency it seems that the administration is already setting a tone to take a tougher stance on foreign trade and in future companies looking to trade in the US will need to factor this into their strategies.”
The European Union is also set to vote on a plan to introduce far higher tariffs on products judged to be unfairly priced later this year as a slowdown in the Chinese economy continues to prompt a global steel glut.
China makes more than half of the world’s steel but is suffering from slowing domestic demand prompting it to flood overseas markets with cheap steel.
GCC governments are also weighing an increase of import duties on products such as steel to 15 per cent from their current level of 5 per cent to protect local industries.
lbarnard@thenational.ae
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