Vice Trade Minister Katsusada Hirose on Thursday repeated concerns that a recent chain of antidumping complaints filed by the U.S. steel industry against steel imports from Japan and other nations may impede development of sound trade practices.
Hirose made the comments in response to the U.S. Commerce Department's preliminary ruling Tuesday that cold-rolled steel imports from Japan and six other countries are being sold below fair market value in the U.S.
A total of 11 Japanese steel items are now subject to U.S. antidumping suits, and the U.S. government has issued final rulings against four of them, a trend Hirose finds alarming.