Argentina, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Peru : 4 Nations Dumped Textiles, U.S. Rules

The Commerce Department ruled Tuesday that four foreign governments were unfairly subsidizing textile imports to the United States.

The countries found to be subsidizing imports were Argentina, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Peru.

However, the Commerce Department found that accusations of subsidies against Malaysia and Singapore were unfounded.

The investigations covered a wide range of products from yarns and threads to finished apparel and carpets and involved such subsidy practices as tax benefits, duty rebates, low-interest loans and preferential export financing.

The department found that the subsidies ranged from a high of 9.87% in the case of apparel imports from Argentina down to 1.23% for apparel imports from Thailand.

The finding means that a tax, known as a countervailing duty, equal to the amount of the subsidy will be imposed on imports from the affected countries.

Officials said the tax will take effect in about five days, as soon as the order is published in the Federal Register.

The amount of the subsidy found by country and product:

Argentina, 4.53% for textile products, 9.87% for apparel; Peru, 2.88% for textile products, none on apparel; Sri Lanka, 5% on textile products, 3.06% on apparel, and Thailand, 1.23% on apparel.

A subsidy ruling on textile products from Thailand was suspended after Thai exporters signed an agreement renouncing the use of subsidies.

The department said that determinations on subsidies must still be made for Indonesia, Turkey, Colombia, Mexico and the Philippines.

The subsidy allegations were made by various U.S. textile companies and the Amalgamated Clothing and Textile Workers Union and the International Ladies Garment Workers Union.