NEW YORK — China has challenged U.S. dumping and subsidy duties on a number of metal products, including steel pipe, aluminum extrusions and wind towers, according to updated documents at the World Trade Organization (WTO).

A statement on the Chinese Commerce Ministry’s website said the challenge relates to a U.S. law signed earlier this year that allows the Commerce Department to continue applying both anti-dumping and countervailing duties to nonmarket economies (amm.com, March 13). Analysts speculated back in March that the bill would lead to more litigation at the WTO.

The dispute centers on the issue of double-counting, which can arise when both countervailing and anti-dumping duties are imposed on a product, causing the offsetting remedy to be calculated twice, according to the documents. "China considers that all determinations or actions by the U.S. authority (from Nov. 20, 2006, and March 13, 2012) relating to the imposition or collection of countervailing duties on Chinese products ... are inconsistent (with its international obligations)."

The Asian nation challenged U.S. relief duties on a wide range of products last Monday, although the items were not disclosed at the time.

Listed on the updated documents are countervailing and anti-dumping duties on circular-welded carbon-quality steel pipe, light-walled rectangular pipe and tube, circular-welded austenitic stainless pressure pipe, oil country tubular goods (OCTG), pre-stressed concrete steel wire, steel grating, galvanized steel wire, utility-scale wind towers, drill pipe, kitchen appliance shelving and racks, raw flexible magnets and aluminum extrusions.

Action concerning double-counting isn’t new. Last year, China took the issue to the WTO’s Appellate Body, and the WTO ruled in favor of China on the grounds that double-counting was likely to occur in nonmarket economy methodologies because prices or costs are calculated using a surrogate country rather than domestic prices.