After conducting an expiry review, the EU imposed a definitive antidumping duty on acesulfame potassium from China, the European Commission said Jan. 28. Requested by Celanese Sales Germany, the review covered imports of "acesulfame potassium (potassium salt of 6-methyl-1,2,3- oxathiazin-4(3H)-one 2,2-dioxide; CAS RN 55589-62-3)" from July 1, 2019, to June 30, 2020. The following rates apply: 4.58% for Anhui Jinhe Industrial Co.; 4.47% for Suzhou Hope Technology Co.; 2.64% for Anhui Vitasweet Food Ingredient Co.; and 4.58% for all other companies.

Peru and Canada recently took antidumping duty and countervailing duty actions on products from China, the Hong Kong Trade Development Council reported Jan. 27. Peru began an ADD investigation on certain plain weave polyester fabrics from mainland China, which could result in AD duties for a period of up to five years, the report said. Canada began an expedited AD/CV duty review of certain upholstered domestic seating exported to Canada by mainland China’s Eterno Co. and Zhe Jiang Shengli Furniture Co. Canada’s International Trade Tribunal in September found the merchandise was being dumped and subsidized, HKTDC said.

An arbitrator at the World Trade Organization in a Jan. 26 report found that China can implement countermeasures on goods from the U.S. up to $645.12 million annually due to U.S. violations of WTO obligations in a variety of countervailing duty proceedings. The arbitrator looked at 10 CVD matters and determined that the total level of "nullification and impairment" China suffered as a result of the U.S.'s "WTO-inconsistent methodologies" in these proceedings exceeded $645 million per year. The CVD matters concern pressure pipe, line pipe, kitchen shelving, oil country tubular goods (OCTG), wire strand, seamless pipe, print graphics, aluminum extrusions, steel cylinders and solar panels. The only nonredacted level of N/I for the CVD proceedings included $365.37 million for OCTG and $20.65 million for solar panels. China can now ask the Dispute Settlement Body for authorization "to suspend concessions or other obligations at a level not exceeding" $645.121 million per year.

The European Union kicked off an expiry review Jan. 26 of the antidumping duties on stainless steel tube and pipe butt-welding fittings, whether or not finished, from China and Taiwan, the European Commission said.

The European Commission, in a Jan. 25 regulation, extended the antidumping duties on imports of certain tube and pipe fittings, of iron or steel, from China following an expiry review. The duties apply to "tube and pipe fittings (other than cast fittings, flanges and threaded fittings), of iron or steel (not including stainless steel), with a greatest external diameter not exceeding 609,6 mm, of a kind used for butt-welding or other purposes" from China. All companies will be subject to a 58.6% dumping rate. The duties were extended to cover tube and pipe fitting imports from Taiwan, Indonesia, Sri Lanka and the Philippines, whether declared as originating in any of these countries or not. In a second notice, the commission initiated a partial interim review of the ADD measures on monosodium glutamate from China.

A global look at foreign trade agreements discussed how many major economies are moving toward more liberalization while the U.S. stands still on previously launched FTA negotiations. Baker McKenzie lawyers shared their insights on the opportunities and compliance concerns under FTAs in a webinar Jan. 25. Adriana Ibarra-Fernandez, a Mexico City, Mexico attorney, talked about Latin American FTAs, and noted that even though negotiations concluded after 20 years between Mercosur, which represents Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay, and the European Union, the trade deal has not been approved in the various capitals, three years after the negotiations ended.

South Africa recently imposed provisional antidumping duties on bone-in chicken meat imports from Brazil, Denmark, Ireland, Poland and Spain, the USDA Foreign Agricultural Sevice said Jan. 20. The announcement, which took effect this month and will last until June, came after the South African Poultry Association alleged that the meat imports were being dumped on the Southern African Customs Union market, USDA said. The South African International Trade Administration Commission will issue final antidumping duties when the provisional duties expire in June. The country now imposes antidumping duties on bone-in chicken imports from nine countries, including the U.S., Germany, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom.

The European Commission gave notice Jan. 21 of the impending expiry of the antidumping duties on certain hot-rolled flat products of iron, non-alloy or other alloy steel from Brazil, Iran, Russia and Ukraine, unless a review of the duties is initiated. EU manufacturers can submit a written request for a review up until three months before the Oct. 7 expiration date.

The European Union initiated an expiry review of the antidumping duties on imports of certain aluminum road wheels from China following a request from the Association of European Wheel Manufacturers, the European Commission said in a Jan. 20 regulation. The review will cover "aluminium road wheels of the motor vehicles of headings 8701 to 8705, whether or not with their accessories and whether or not fitted with tyres" brought into the EU from Oct. 1, 2020, to Sept. 30, 2021. Interested parties wishing to submit comment on the review must do so within 37 days of the publication of the notice of initiation of the review, the commission said.

China asked the World Trade Organization to set up a dispute panel to look at Australia’s antidumping measures on Chinese wind towers, stainless steel sinks and certain railway wheels, as well as Australian countervailing duties on Chinese stainless steel sinks, the WTO said Jan. 14. Australia’s trade minister said Jan. 15 that he’s “confident our measures are consistent” with WTO obligations and plans to “robustly defend them.”