[advertise]广告[/advertise]March 4, Shenzhen Daily THE United States on Tuesday imposed preliminary duties on two goods from China, glossy magazine-quality paper and certain salts used to make fertilizer, adding to a growing list of bilateral trade disputes. The U.S. Commerce Department hit Chinese coated paper companies with countervailing duties ranging from 3.92 to 12.83 percent to offset government subsidies and also levied a 17.48 percent duty on Indonesian firms in the same case. In a separate action, the department found “even higher government subsidies” on certain potassium phosphate salts and hit Chinese companies that produce or export them with a preliminary duty of 109.11 percent. China has accused the United States of misusing its trade laws to slap duties on an array of Chinese goods, including passenger tires and several steel products. Washington says “the duties are justified to protect vulnerable U.S. companies against unfair Chinese trade practices, like subsidies or below-market prices.” The final countervailing duties on China could be higher if the U.S. Commerce Department accepts the industry’s argument that China subsidizes coated paper exports by maintaining an undervalued currency against the dollar, said Gilbert Kaplan, a lawyer at King & Spalding representing the petitioners. Western economists estimate China’s yuan is undervalued by anywhere from 20 to 40 percents. If the department agrees to that, it would be the first time that U.S. countervailing duty laws have been used against China’s exchange rate regime. That makes the paper case potentially much more politically explosive than many other trade spats. Asia Pulp & Paper (APP), a major exporter of coated paper from both China and Indonesia, said it was disappointed with the ruling and would continue to fight the duties. In a similar case brought by U.S. producers a few years ago, the U.S. International Trade Commission blocked final duties from going into effect. The United States imported US$228.7 million of the coated paper from China in 2008 and US$44.3 million from Indonesia. (SD-Agencies)