The United States Department of Commerce set preliminary anti-dumping duties of up to 45.53 percent on tapered roller bearings and 16.48 percent on low melt polyester staple fiber from South Korea, adding to the barrage of attacks on Korean imports.

The U.S. Commerce Department on Tuesday (local time) assigned preliminary anti-dumping rates of 45.53 percent on tapered roller bearings manufactured by Bearing Art Corp., 21.23 percent on Schaeffler Korea Corp. and 33.42 percent on other Korean tapered roller bearings firms.

Tapered roller bearings are components designed to reduce friction when machine parts rotate around a fixed axis. Korean firms’ tapered roller bearings shipment to the U.S. was estimated at $60.1 million for full 2016.

The U.S. government had launched an anti-dumping probe into Korean tapered roller bearings manufacturers at the request of The Timken Company, which accused Korea exporters for selling products at unfairly low price.

“The United States values its relationship with Korea, but our trading partners must play by the rules,” said U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross. “We will continue to review all information related to this case before making our final determination.”

The U.S. Commerce Department is scheduled to announce the final ruling around April 16.

Separately on the previous day, the U.S. Commerce Department imposed preliminary anti-dumping tariffs of 16.48 percent on low melt polyester staple fiber imports from Toray Chemical Korea Inc. along with 52 percent duties on Taiwanese textile firms after launching an anti-dumping investigation at the request of Nan Ya Plastics Corp. It plans to make the final determination around June 8.

Low melt polyester staple fibers are used for making thermal insulation materials, cushion fillings and such. Korean textile firms’ low melt polyester staple fiber exports to the U.S. reached an estimated $76.6 million in 2016.

Shares of Toray Chemical Korea closed Thursday unchanged from the previous session at 19,800 won ($18.46) in Seoul trading. The rest of the Korean firms subject to U.S. government’s anti-dumping duties are unlisted.

By Hwang In-hyuk and Cho Jeehyun

[ⓒ Pulse by Maeil Business Newspaper & mk.co.kr, All rights reserved]