Japan reaches WTO to talk to India on hiked tariffs

Exclusive

26 December 2016

Japan wants to talk to India about an increase in tariffs on Japanese steel products. Japanese officials say the hike violates World Trade Organization agreements. Trade ministry officials say the Indian government used emergency measures last year to raise tariffs on Japanese steel used in autos from zero to 20 percent.

The Ministry, also known as METI, said it will “continuously request” that India’s relevant authority ensure compliance with WTO agreements between the two countries, in a report that argued the nation may have violated provisions requiring clear descriptions of trade impacts and direct ties to relevant agreements.

Japanese officials estimate the tariffs could cost Japanese steel companies about 220 million dollars through March 2018.

In outlining the report itself, METI said that India imposes 20 percent additional duties on goods imported into the country, but duties on Japanese goods had been nearly zero under the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement between Japan and the Republic of India, or IJCEPA. Those duties jumped to 20 percent for hot-rolled steel when they kicked in mid September, according to METI.

In India, the safeguard investigation conducted by the safeguards authority was meticulous and involved a public hearing where all parties were given adequate time to present their problems and support to the case. Japan’s delay in presenting its case at that forum nearly an year earlier and waking up after the global market dynamics have altered tremendously is a sign of frustration rather than an actual problem statement.

Considering the current market prices of the products covered safeguard or antidumping duties arriving from Japan indicate that the price levels are much higher than the referenced prices decided in the said duties. So automatically, the duties have become non-existent and problems of the domestic industry are continuing.