Washington Makes Preliminary Ruling on Taxing China's Steel Wheels

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) - The United States made a preliminary determination to begin to impose duties of up to around 172 percent on certain steel wheels from China, the Commerce Department said in a press release.

"Today, the US Department of Commerce announced the affirmative preliminary determination in the countervailing duty (CVD) investigation of imports of certain steel wheels from China, finding that exporters received countervailable subsidies ranging from 58.75 to 172.51 percent," the release said on Monday.

US Customs and Border Protection will immediately collect duties from importers of certain steel wheels from China based on these preliminary rates, the release said.

The United States, the release added, imported 388 million dollars’ worth of this product from China in 2017.

The Commerce Department also announced in a separate statement that it was imposing antidumping duties on cast iron soil pipe from China which was subsidized by more than 300 percent. In 2017, the release noted that US imports of cast iron soil pipe from China were valued at $11.5 million.

The trade row between Washington and Beijing erupted in March after US President Donald Trump announced that his administration would impose tariffs on imported steel and aluminum. China and the United States have imposed several rounds of import duties on each other since then.

Earlier in August, China announced 25-percent tariffs on $16 billion worth of US goods after Washington imposed the same tariff rate on the same value of Chinese goods.

READ MORE: US-China: From Trade War to Hot War?