The US Commerce Department on Tuesday announced its decision to set final countervailing duties (CVD) on imports of the US$2.6 billion oil country tubular goods (OCTG) from China, the biggest US trade action against China.

The department said in its final determination that it found Chinese producers/exporters of OCTG have received net countervailable subsidies ranging from 10.36 to 15.78 percent, which means that the Chinese companies involved in this case will receive CVD in this range respectively.

As a result of this final determination, the Commerce Department will also instruct US Customs and Border Protection to collect a cash deposit or bond based on these final rates.

The antidumping and countervailing petition case was filed in April this year. The Commerce Department made its preliminary determination on CVD in September. On November 4, it also set preliminary antidumping duties on such imports from China.

Under that preliminary determination, the Commerce Department set a 36.53 percent antidumping levy on OCTG from 37 Chinese companies, while some other Chinese companies will receive a preliminary dumping rate of 99.14 percent.

According to the case calendar, the US International Trade Commission will make its final determination on the CVD case on January 7, 2010.

If the commission makes an affirmative final determination that imports of OCTG from China materially injures, or threaten material injury to, the domestic industry, the government will issue a countervailing duty on January 14, 2010.

China's Ministry of Commerce has expressed strong opposition to the US decision, saying it is a protectionist move that hurts Chinese companies' interests.

"This does not comply with WTO agreements on subsidies. The US used an incorrect method to define and calculate the subsidies, which has resulted in an artificially high subsidy rate, hurting Chinese firms' interests," ministry spokesman Yao Jian said in September.

(Xinhua News Agency November 25, 2009)