A Brazilian government official said on Monday the country is waiting for a decision from the US International Trade Commission (ITC), which should rule on a Department of Commerce anti-dumping (AD) determination on the Brazilian-made CRC that is exported to the North American nation.
According to the Brazilian official, the South American country could appeal the AD determination to the World Trade Organization (WTO).
The US Department of Commerce said last week Brazil was subsidizing CRC through seven export programs. The US Department of Commerce has then passed its AD determination to the ITC to rule on it.
Depending on the decision by the ITC, duties of up to 11 percent on the Brazilian exports of the product to the US could be applied.
Brazilian steelmakers Companhia Siderurgica Nacional (CSN) and flats steelmaker Usiminas dominate much of the product’s trade to the North American nation.
Reuters noted the US case “targets Brazilian incentive programs that include the so-called ‘ex-tarifario’ and drawback regimes that reduce import taxes on machines and inputs for making steel.”
Daniel Godinho, Brazil’s undersecretary of foreign trade, contested the US claims and said that "never before in the history of Brazilian foreign trade anyone has questioned the ex-tarifario and drawback programs,” Reuters quoted the official as saying.
Godinho said Brazil will wait for the ITC decision, which is expected to be announced in September, before deciding what to do.