Victory in Trade Cases Involving India, Thailand, Indonesia

The US International Trade Commission (ITC) rejected the US PET resin industry's attempts to secure high antidumping and countervailing duties against Indian PET resin producers.  By a vote of 5 to 1, the ITC determined that US imports of PET resin from India did not injure or threaten future injury to the US PET resin industry.  Antidumping and countervailing duties, which were temporarily imposed by the US Department of Commerce pending this final determination, will be lifted by the US Customs Service in the next few days.

"This is a significant victory for Indian producers of PET resin.  It is a prime example of how strategic and constructive engagement in US trade proceedings can yield positive results," said Susan G. Esserman, counsel to Reliance Industries Ltd., the largest Indian producer of PET resin.  Ms. Esserman, chair of the international practice of the Washington, DC, law firm Steptoe & Johnson LLP and former Deputy US Trade Representative, presented the defense at the ITC on behalf of all respondent countries.  She also successfully represented a coalition of Indian PET resin producers to defeat a US industry petition to remove duty-free treatment for US imports of PET resin in 2004. 

These proceedings were fiercely contested.  The case was brought in March 2004 by a coalition of US producers of PET resin, including Eastman Chemical Co., Wellman, Inc., Nan Ya Plastics Corp., and DAK Americas, and was supported by M&G Polymers.  Polyethylene terephthalate (PET) resin is an important industrial material used in the manufacture of plastic bottles for water, soft drinks, and food products.