January 31, 2007

WTO finds US duties on Ecuadorean shrimp violate rules

US antidumping duties on shrimp imports from Ecuador violate trade rules, a World Trade Organization panel said Tuesday (Jan 30).

The panel found that the duties the US imposed in February 2005 because of alleged price dumping by Ecuadorean exporters were inflated because of Washington's use of a practice known as "zeroing".

According to previous panel decisions, zeroing leads to inflated margins of dumping, and thus higher duties.

The case, which was not contested by Washington, is now likely to go to the WTO's dispute settlement arm, which could ask the US to bring its antidumping measures into line with global trade rules.

With the announcement come hopes for a host of other Asian countries exporting shrimps to the US including, Brazil, China, India, Thailand and Vietnam.

WTO panels are currently inquiring into the US duties for Thailand and India.