Argentina started a dispute earlier than World Trade Organization (WTO) against the United States due to anti-dumping measures imposed by the Northern country against pipes used in the oil industry, the Geneva-based agency reported on Thursday.
Argentina believes that the anti-dumping measures issued by the United States on these products are inconsistent with international trade regulations, as well as a section of the United States Tariff Act, which dates back to 1930. accused Argentina of dumping, which consists in selling a product below its cost or market value.
The fight over the pipes that Argentina exports to the United States It’s been 20 years. Indeed, the WTO has remembered this it is the third dispute on that same product which Argentina initiates against the North American country through the organization’s dispute settlement mechanism.
Now it will open 60 day period during which both countries have to negotiate. If no agreement is reached after that period, both Argentina and the United States can claim that the WTO create a panel to resolve the dispute.
The center of the controversy is the so-called tubular products of the oil country (OCTG), pipes used in the oil and gas industry. The United States had opened an anti-dumping investigation into pipes from Argentina, but also from South Korea, Russia and Mexico.
The anti-dumping measure was imposed in November 2022 and provides for the payment of duties for five years for 78.30% by Siderca, the Argentine pipe producer of the Tenaris group, owned by the Techint group. A rate of 44.93% has also been set for pipes that the company sends from Mexico.
The North American International Trade Commission, ITC for its acronym in English, had ruled that imports of oilfield pipe from Argentina they had caused damage to US industry OCTG.
Expansion in the United States
In the midst of this discussion and with a 78% anti-dumping duty to enter the US, Tenaris decided to directly purchase a pipe plant in that country. Acquisition of a plant from the Benteler Steel & Tube Manufacturing group in Louisiana for $460 million.
Benteler produces seamless steel pipes, with the annual rolling capacity up to 400,000 tons.
The American company had commissioned the plant, located in the city of Shreveport, in 2020. It is one of the most modern steel pipe factories in North America.
Source: Clarin
