A request filed by South Korea to retaliate against the US in a dispute over US antidumping duties on the country's oil country tubular goods exports has been referred to the World Trade Organization for arbitration, the trade body said Friday.
South Korea is seeking trade sanctions of about $350 million against the US over the latter's tariffs on OCTG.
In a meeting of the WTO's dispute settlement body (DBS) Friday South Korea said it was disappointed with the failure of the US to comply with the rulings and recommendations the DSB adopted in January 2018, according to a summary of the meeting provided by the WTO.
The latest development comes after South Korea challenged the US duties on OCTG at the WTO in 2014. Subsequently, the WTO's DSB found that the antidumping measures were inconsistent with the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade 1994.
At the meeting Friday, South Korea requested authorization to suspend concessions at the annual level or nullification or impairment cause by the US' failure to comply with the DSB ruling, which South Korea estimates to be $350 million annually.
The US objected to the level of concessions proposed by South Korea. Under the terms of Article 22.6 of the Dispute Settlement Understanding (DSU), the filing of such an objection automatically results in the matter being referred to arbitration, the WTO said.
In June, the US Court of International Trade ordered the Department of Commerce to reassess the final antidumping duties assigned to South Korean producers and exporters of OCTG following an administrative review. Commerce has been ordered to file its remand redetermination in the case on or before August 16.
Commerce set final antidumping margins of 75.81% for Nexteel and 6.75% for SeAH Steel in April 2018 following the administrative review.
