U.S. Delays WTO Investigation into Fees on European Ball Bearings


The United States delayed a World Trade Organization investigation Tuesday of the anti-dumping duties America puts on 52 European products from ball bearings to Italian pasta, temporarily putting off another trans-Atlantic dispute.

The European Union says Washington's continued use of a complicated procedure for determining dumping fees on the products violates global trade rules.But the U.S. contends that it is already reconsidering how it calculates the levies and the request was unnecessary.The Geneva-based trade referee will almost certainly establish an investigative panel when the organization's dispute settlement body meets again next month. Under WTO rules, a second request for a formal investigation is automatically approved.

"The (EU) would have preferred to avoid another dispute with the United States on this subject," said Raimund Raith, a trade negotiator for the 27-nation bloc. He said Washington's refusal to offer an acceptable solution in consultations forced Brussels to seek litigation.

Governments investigate dumping when they suspect that producers are exporting products at below the market price in their own country — usually because exports have been subsidized or if it is believed there is an attempt to corner the market.

The WTO has previously chided the U.S. in disputes with the EU, Canada and others for how it determines what anti-dumping fees to apply, known in trade jargon as "zeroing." Panels have consistently found that zeroing leads to artificial and inflated margins of dumping, and thus higher duties."The U.S. has shown a clear reluctance to draw the inevitable consequences of these earlier decisions," Raith said.Juan Millan, a U.S. trade lawyer, told the dispute settlement body that the EU request for a panel was premature because the U.S. was already assessing the practice in a separate dispute. Washington has until December in that dispute to inform the WTO how it will adjust its anti-dumping calculations, he said.Millan also criticized the EU for including a number of issues in its complaint without first consulting the United States.A WTO case can result in punitive sanctions being authorized, but panels take many months, and sometimes years, to reach a decision.

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