The European Commission gave notice Feb. 28 of the impending expiry of the antidumping duties on ceramic tiles from China, unless a review of the duties is initiated. EU manufacturers can submit a written request for a review up until three months before the Nov. 24 expiration date.

The EU initiated an expiry review of the antidumping duties on heavy plate of non-alloy or other alloy steel from China, the European Commission announced Feb. 25. The European Steel Association requested the review, which covers "flat products of non-alloy or alloy steel (excluding stainless steel, silicon-electrical steel, tool steel and high-speed steel), hot-rolled, not clad, plated or coated, not in coils, of a thickness exceeding 10 mm and of a width of 600 mm or more or of a thickness of 4,75 mm or more but not exceeding 10 mm and of a width of 2 050 mm or more." The review will cover all imports of the subject merchandise Jan. 1 to Dec. 31, 2021.

The EU's antidumping duty order on glass fiber fabrics (GFF) from China was being circumvented by imports of the subject merchandise consigned from Morocco by PGTEX Morocco SARL, the European Commission said Feb. 24. As a result, the commission extended the antidumping duty order on woven and/or stitched glass fiber fabrics from China to include these goods consigned from Morocco. The duties cover "fabrics of woven, and/or stitched continuous filament glass fibre rovings and/or yarns with or without other elements, excluding products which are impregnated or pre-impregnated (pre-preg), and excluding open mesh fabrics with cells with a size of more than 1,8 mm in both length and width and weighing more than 35 g/m2." The duty for the extended scope is the 69% antidumping duty rate applicable to "all other companies," and consigned GFF imports from Morocco, whether or not the goods originate in Morocco, are covered by the regulation.

The European Commission accepted a request from Chinese exporter Hunan Jewelmoon Ceramics to be granted new exporting product treatment, subjecting the company to a 17.9% antidumping duty rate. The request regarded antidumping duties on ceramic tableware and kitchenware from China. Following an analysis, the commission said that the exporter met all three of the conditions for this status. Jewelmoon didn't export the subject merchandise during the investigation period, isn't related to any exporters subject to the ADD measures and exported the product to the EU after the original investigation period. Therefore Hunan Jewelmoon Ceramics was added to the annex listing the cooperating companies not included in the sample for determing the ADD rates in the original subject dumping investigation.

The EU kicked initiated an expiry review of the antidumping duties on high tenacity yarns of polyesters from China, the European Commission said Feb. 23. The review, requested by European Manmade Fibres Association, covers "high tenacity yarn of polyesters not put up for retail sale, including monofilament of less than 67 decitex, (excluding sewing thread and ‘Z’-twisted multiple (folded) or cabled yarn, intended for the production of sewing thread, ready for dyeing and for receiving a finishing treatment, loosely wound on a plastic perforated tube)." See the notice for information about submitting comments. The investigation is expected to be completed no later than 15 months from the date of the notice.

The World Trade Organization published the agenda for the Feb. 28 meeting of the Dispute Settlement Body. The agenda includes status reports by the U.S. on the implementation of recommendations adopted by the DSB on: antidumping measures on certain hot-rolled steel products from Japan; antidumping and countervailing measures on large residential washers from South Korea; certain methodologies and their application to antidumping proceedings involving China; and Section 110(5) of the U.S. Copyright Act.

Colombia and Canada recently announced antidumping duty and countervailing duty actions and decisions on certain products from mainland China, the Hong Kong Trade Development Council reported Feb. 17. Colombia recently denied a request by a domestic producer to renew the AD order on certain flat‑rolled galvanized steel sheet from China and “adopt an anti‑circumvention measure.” Colombia previously rescinded this order through a sunset review and “terminated a parallel anti‑circumvention review.”

The EU imposed a definitive antidumping duty on iron or steel fasteners from China, in a Feb. 17 regulation. The duties apply to imports of "certain fasteners of iron or steel, other than of stainless steel, i.e. wood screws (excluding coach screws), self-tapping screws, other screws and bolts with heads (whether or not with their nuts or washers, but excluding screws and bolts for fixing railway track construction material), and washers" and cover the period July 1, 2019, to June 30, 2020. The following rates apply: 22.1% for Jiangsu Yongyi Fastener Co., 46.1% for Ningbo Jinding Fastening Piece Co., 48.8% for Wenzhou Junhao Industry Co., 39.6% for other cooperating companies listed in the notice's annex, and 86.5% for all other companies. The investigation into the duties was touched off by a November 2020 complaint from European Industrial Fasteners Institute.

The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative laid out the externalities to other economies of China's state-led economy in a 72-page annual report to Congress. "Since last year’s report, our assessment of China’s record in terms of transitioning to a market economy has not changed," the report said. While the report's framing is about how China complies with World Trade Organization rules, the authors minimized the WTO's ability to constrain China and emphasized that countries must expand domestic trade remedies or develop other tools to deal with China's rise.

India temporarily revoked certain antidumping duties on various steel products from China, Vietnam, South Korea, Brazil and Germany, the Hong Kong Trade Development Council reported Feb. 11. The changes, which took effect Feb. 1 and remain in place until Sept. 30, suspend duties on imported rods, alloy steel bars and flat steel products “plated or coated with zinc or aluminum,” the report said. India also permanently revoked countervailing duties on certain imported hot‑rolled and cold‑rolled stainless steel flat products from China as well as customs duty reductions for “long, flat and semi‑finished products of stainless steel, alloy and non‑alloy.” The country also extended an import duty exemption on steel scraps for another year to “help smaller manufacturers,” HKTDC said.