NEW SPIN TO WHIRPOOL’S FIGHT AGAINST SAMSUNG, LG
Firm claims S. Korean rivals selling washing machines in US at artificially low prices
WHIRLPOOL Corp is renewing allegations that its South Korean rivals illegally undercut prices on washing machines, setting up a trade fight that could be settled by the Trump administration.
The American appliance giant on Wednesday filed a petition with the United States International Trade Commission (ITC) against Samsung Electronics Co and LG Electronics Inc.
The so-called safeguard petition is meant to provide help to domestic manufacturers hurt by importers selling products at excessively low prices.
“This filing addresses unprecedented behaviour by two serial violators of US trade laws,” said Whirlpool chief executive officer Jeff Fettig in a statement.
In the filing, Whirlpool alleges Samsung and LG pursued a strategy of selling washing machines in the US at artificially low prices, then doing an “end run” around US anti-dumping laws intended to prevent such behaviour.
For example, the South Korean companies moved production to Vietnam and Thailand to avoid duties being imposed by the US on machines they made in China, Whirlpool alleges.
The long-simmering conflict has the potential to become a high-profile test for President Donald Trump.
Trade and domestic manufacturing were signature issues in his campaign, and Fettig serves as a member of the president’s manufacturing council. If the trade commission decides in Whirlpool’s favour, it could recommend that Trump’s administration step in and slap tariffs on the competitors’ products.
Whirlpool’s filing would be the latest in a series of complaints companies have filed with the ITC, a federal tribunal that rules on trade disputes. Last month, Boeing Co accused Bombardier Inc of selling passenger jets in the US at “absurdly low prices”, asking the US to impose duties on the Canadian jet builder.
Trump has threatened to pull the US out of its free-trade agreement with South Korea, calling the 2012 deal a “one-way street” that has only benefited the Asian country. The US trade deficit with South Korea last year, at about US$28 billion, was the eighth-largest shortfall among US trading partners, according to Census Bureau data.
Whirlpool’s dispute followed cases in which the US government had determined that the South Korean firms injured US manufacturers by selling washing machines in the country at illegal prices, said Whirlpool.