Japan Appeals US Zeroing Antidumping Method

Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry appeals the case for zeroing of US antidumping procedure in Geneva on October 11 after World Trade Organization rejected Japanese appeal in the report. WTO concluded the zeroing violates the WTO agreement at the first investigation. However, the panel concluded the other procedure is in line with the agreement during the review.The zeroing is to calculate the antidumping margin as zero when the export price is higher than the domestic price, which is supposed to be valued minas. The zeroing has negative impact on the exporter in higher dumping margin. Japanese government filed petition against USA in November 2004 citing the zeroing method violates the WTO agreement. Japanese Iron and Steel Federation also submitted paper in April 2006 to support Japanese steel industry and to seek termination of zeroing method. WTO rejected part of Japanese argument in September in the panel report. Japan decided to appeal the case after European Union succeeded to win in the similar case.