The US Commerce Department set final anti-dumping duties ranging from 44.99 to 70.63 percent on utility-scale towers manufactured in China and additional countervailing duties of 21.86 to 34.81 percent to combat Chinese government subsidies.
The department also slapped final anti-dumping duties of 51.40 to 58.49 percent on wind towers from Vietnam. A US trade panel has final approval over the duties and is expected to vote on the case in late January. The action was the latest clash between the two countries over US imports of green technology from China. It came as a Chinese delegation led by Vice Premier Wang Qishan was in Washington for the US-China Joint Commission on Commerce and Trade meeting, a high-level bilateral forum to address barriers to trade and investment.
Wang attended a dinner on Tuesday evening hosted by US Trade Representative Ron Kirk and Acting Commerce Secretary Rebecca Blank and is expected to meet with US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner on Thursday morning. The main meeting on Wednesday takes place as President Barack Obama and House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner try to negotiate a budget deal to avert the so-called "fiscal cliff" of automatic tax increases and spending cuts early next year. The White House is also pushing for an increase in the nation's $16.4 trillion statutory debt cap as part of any deal.