Quick Take: China Bristles at U.S. Aluminum Foil Duties

China’s Ministry of Commerce says there is no evidence to back the U.S. Commerce Department’s decision to apply anti-dumping and countervailing tariffs to aluminum foil imports.

“Based on the investigation process and result, the U.S. has disregarded World Trade Organization rules and regulations, seriously damaging the interests of Chinese aluminum foil exporters. China is extremely dissatisfied,” Wang Hejun, head of the ministry’s Trade Remedy and Investigation Bureau, said in a statement (link in Chinese) on Wednesday.

Several hours before, the Commerce Department announced it would levy anti-dumping and countervailing duties on imports of Chinese aluminum foil.

The Commerce Department found that exporters from China sold aluminum foil in the U.S. at 48.64-106.09% less than fair value, according to the statement. It also found that China is providing unfair subsidies to its producers of aluminum foil at rates of 17.17-80.97%.

Wang pointed out that during the anti-dumping investigation, the Department of Commerce continued to categorize China as a nonmarket economy, thus applying an alternative methodology to come to extremely high anti-dumping tax rates.

In the anti-subsidy investigation process, the Department of Commerce identified Chinese suppliers of raw materials and financial institutions as public institutions, which Wang said let to the department “mistakenly” imposing a high anti-subsidy rate without evidence.

The unreasonable use of trade remedies by the U.S. will adversely affect employment in the U.S. and hurt the interests of U.S. consumers, according to Wang.

As for the United States’ wrongdoings, China will take necessary measures to safeguard its own legal rights and interests, Wang said.

Contact reporter Liu Xiao (liuxiao@caixin.com)