President Obama signs law ensuring DOC can impose countervailing duties on Chinese imports
13.03.2012: US President Barack Obama has signed a trade law that ensures the US Department of Commerce (DOC) has the legal authority to impose countervailing duties on goods from non-market economies such as China. The Obama administration helped develop the legislation in response to a December court of appeals ruling that the previous administration should have obtained approval from Congress before it gave DOC the ability to impose countervailing duties on non-market economies. Previously, DOC did not impose countervailing duties on non-market economies because it was seen as too difficult to calculate subsidies in these countries. The December decision had endangered existing countervailing duties on goods imported from China and other non-market economies and had called into question DOC’s ability to apply duties to other imports including solar panels. DOC initiated a countervailing duty investigation into Chinese solar imports late last year – a preliminary determination on countervailing duties is scheduled for March 19. Source: PHOTON
