WASHINGTON: The US Commerce Department on Tuesday upheld tariffs imposed last year on imports of Chinese aluminum foil valued at nearly $400 million a year saying the product receives unfair subsidies from Beijing. The decision intensified the mounting trade confrontation between Beijing and Washington, which is considering far-reaching duties on Chinese goods in an effort to reduce the US trade deficit. The agency said Chinese manufacturers have been dumping aluminum foil into the US market at below market price, with margins between 48.6 percent and 106.9 percent. The product also benefitted from unfair subsidies at rates as high as 80.9 percent. Commerce Department investigators had reached preliminary findings in August and in October that Chinese exporters were dumping aluminum foil, worth an estimated $389 million in 2016, on the US market.

Source: New Strait Times February 27, 2018 23:03 UTC