Following a year-long investigation, the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) voted 6-0 in favor of applying duties on subsidized and dumped coated paper imports from China and Indonesia.  The ITC decision clears the way for the U.S. Department of Commerce to immediately impose antidumping and countervailing duties on imports of coated paper from these countries. 

Earlier this year, the Alliance for American Manufacturing (AAM) released a report by Dr. Usha C.V. Haley that showed China’s rapid rise in the global paper industry has been fueled by more than $33 billion in government subsidies from 2002 to 2009.  Specifically, these heavy subsidies violate global trading rules, and have allowed the Chinese paper industry to triple production over the past decade, killing jobs throughout the United States and driving up the massive U.S. trade deficit with China.

The ITC ruling is welcome news for U.S. paper producers and their workers.