UAE defends its industries following US accusations

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) will spare no efforts to defend its industries after the United States (US) found that the UAE companies were dumping carbon and alloy steel wire rod in the US market, Reuters reported yesterday quoting an official source at the UAE Ministry of Economy.

The US commerce department said in an initial investigation held on 6 September that exporters from the UAE had sold wire rod products at 84.1 per cent below fair value and that it would ask the US customs to collect duties.

The Emirati ministry told Reuters that it was “paying close attention” to the investigations and would defend UAE industries “with every tool at our disposal,” in line with World Trade Organisation (WTO) agreements.

The US President Donald Trump has campaigned on an “America First” policy, promising to defend US businesses and to revise or negotiate new trade agreements to boost American manufacturing.

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The UAE, a close US ally in the Middle East, said that “maintaining a free and open multilateral trading system with the United States was very important,” but its exports would have an “insignificant impact” on the US domestic wire rod industry.

UAE exports of wire rod to the US accounted for less than 1.4 per cent of the total US imports in 2016, the ministry said. The United States has said that the value of UAE wire rod exports to the country in 2016 was $7 million.

A final anti-dumping decision by the US commerce department, which includes investigations into other countries, is scheduled for 21 November.

Wire rod is a hot-rolled intermediate steel product used in a wide variety of other manufactured goods.