U.S. Piles More Duties on Chinese Wind Towers
The United States on Friday slapped a second round of duties on wind turbine towers from China, ratcheting up tensions between the two countries in the renewable energy sector.
The U.S. Commerce Department said it was imposing preliminary anti-dumping duties of about 20 percent to 73 percent on Chinese-made steel towers.
It also set preliminary anti-dumping duties of about 53 percent to 60 percent on steel towers from Vietnam to offset what the department said was below-market pricing.
U.S. imports of the wind towers in 2011 totaled about $222.1 million from China and about $78.8 million from Vietnam.
The decision is another victory for the Wind Tower Trade Coalition, a group of U.S. producers who say they are being driven out of business by unfair Asian competition.
In May, the Commerce Department set preliminary “countervailing” duties of about 14 percent to 26 percent on Chinese towers to offset Chinese government subsidies.