US union targets China-made coated paper for duties to save jobs

The United Steelworkers union, fresh off persuading President Barack Obama to restrict tire imports from China, has filed anti-dumping (AD) and countervailing-duty (CVD) petitions covering imports of certain coated paper from China and Indonesia.

The union, which represents workers in a number of industries, sees itself in a battle against what it believes are unfair foreign trade practices that have led to the loss of millions of US manufacturing jobs.

They are joined in their latest trade case by paper manufacturers NewPage Corp of Miamisburg, Ohio; Appleton Coated LLC of Kimberly, Wisconsin; and Sappi Fine Paper North America of Boston, Massachusetts, which together employ about 6,000 union workers at paper mills in nine states.

"Neither the companies nor the union will tolerate being obliterated without asking our government to investigate and enforce the rules of fair trade,"Steelworkers President Leo Gerard said in a statement.

The US International Trade Commission (ITC), a US federal agency, will have the final word on whether the duties will be imposed after an investigation by the US Commerce Department.

The petitioners estimate that imports of coated paper increased 40 percent in the first six months of 2009, year-on-year. Imports from China and Indonesia now supply nearly 30 percent of the US market, they said.

The product is used in high-quality writing, printing and other applications. The cases against China and Indonesia are expected to take about a year to complete, with a preliminary ITC determination by mid-November.

The paper-production sector dipped on the news in the Hong Kong market.

Lee & Man Paper fell 3.6 percent, and Nine Dragon's Paper and Chenming Paper dipped 2.95 and 0.92 percent, respectively.

The union's filing came only one day after the US Court of International Trade ruled that the US Department of Commerce was "unreasonable"for its imposition in September 2008 of AD and CVD on tires from Chinese makers – products from a designated non-market economy country.

Hailing the decision, China's Ministry of Commerce said yesterday in a website statement that a dual imposition of AD and CVD on Chinese products has infringed on US rules, and its tradition of not adopting anti-subsidy measures against non-market economies, and it didn't conform with World Trade Organization rules.

As early as October 2007, the US Department of Commerce announced its ruling to slap anti-dumping and countervailing duties on coated-paper exporters from China, Indonesia and South Korea, but the ITC overturned the ruling a month later.

Reuters/Global Times

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