"US Biden Administration Likely to Continue and Strengthen Import Restrictions Including Anti-Dumping Measures"

[Asia Economy Reporter Jeong Hyunjin] Although expectations have grown that the United States will restore relations with its allies and adopt a norm-centered multilateral approach with the inauguration of the Joe Biden administration, it is forecasted that the U.S. import regulation stance, such as anti-dumping measures, will continue and even strengthen.

On the 1st, the Korea International Trade Association's International Trade and Commerce Research Institute released a report titled "Trade Remedy Policy Outlook of the Biden Administration: Focusing on the Current Status of Anti-Dumping Investigation Practices," analyzing over a decade of data related to U.S. anti-dumping measures. The report revealed that since the revision of anti-dumping procedural law during the Barack Obama administration to expand the discretion of investigative authorities, provisions such as "Adverse Facts Available (AFA)" and "Particular Market Situation (PMS)" have been frequently used, and anti-dumping tariff rates have significantly increased compared to before.

The KITA pointed out, "Although there have been rulings that the U.S. practices of 'targeted dumping' and applying a single rate for non-market economies in anti-dumping investigations violate World Trade Organization (WTO) regulations, the U.S. has not corrected these practices."

The AFA provision, used by the U.S. to impose high tariffs in anti-dumping investigations, has seen a substantial increase in application cases since 2016, immediately after the law revision, with dumping margins also trending higher. KITA stated, "The number of companies subjected to AFA rose from an average of 5 per year before 2016 to 31 per year from 2016 to the present," adding, "By rejecting all data submitted by exporters and applying the highest dumping margin rate through total AFA application, the average dumping margin rate nearly doubled from 64.8% during 2008?2015 to 113.3% from 2016 to the present."

(Data provided by Korea International Trade Association)

Regarding the PMS provision, which the U.S. first applied to Korean companies, the Department of Commerce has exercised broad discretion in assessing the domestic market situation of exporting countries, significantly increasing exporters' dumping margins. The PMS provision, initially applied to Korean products, has expanded to several countries and product categories, and last year was applied in investigations of 10 items from 4 countries including Korea, India, Turkey, and Germany.

Through the report, KITA highlighted the current status and issues of targeted dumping and the application of a single rate for non-market economies, explaining, "Since 2008, the U.S. has developed the so-called targeted dumping methodology and continues the practice of applying 'zeroing' to increase dumping margins when targeted dumping is found." It was analyzed that many of the companies sued could have been excluded from tariff imposition if the targeted dumping methodology had not been applied.

For non-market economy countries such as China and Vietnam, where many Korean companies have established a presence, the U.S. continues the practice of treating all exporters as a single entity under government control and applying the same dumping rate. According to the report, the single rate for non-market economies in U.S. anti-dumping investigations was below 200% until 2016, averaged 203% in 2017, and reached a peak of 300.9% in 2019.

Senior Researcher Kim Kyunghwa of KITA emphasized, "There is a high possibility that anti-dumping policies will be actively utilized under the Biden administration as well," adding, "With the WTO dispute resolution process weakened, our companies should actively use U.S. courts to respond to investigations by the U.S. Department of Commerce, and our government must continuously point out the problems of Commerce Department practices and demand corrections through various channels."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.