U.S. calls for anti-subsidy duties on tool chests from China

The department said in a statement it would slap final anti-subsidy duties on Chinese exporters of the tool chests ranging from 14.03 percent to 95.96 percent.

The duties will take effect for five years if the U.S. International Trade Commission finds the imports harm or are likely to harm U.S. producers. The commission is scheduled to make its decision around Jan. 8 next year.

The case was brought by Waterloo Industries Inc of Sedalia, Missouri, a subsidiary of Fortune Brands Home & Security Inc , which says it accounts for more than half of domestic production of tool chests and cabinets.

In 2016, imports of tool chests from China totaled $990 million, department data show.

It calculated final countervailing duty rates of 15.09 percent for Jiangsu Tongrun Equipment Technology Co Ltd , 14.03 percent for Zhongshan Geelong Manufacturing Co Ltd and 14.39 percent for all other producers or exporters in China that responded to its enquiries.

Companies that did not respond to the Commerce Department's questionnaire were assigned a final subsidy rate of 95.96 percent, the department said.

In a separate anti-dumping investigation, the Commerce Department said on Nov. 13 it had made a preliminary finding certain companies from China were selling the tool chests on the U.S. market at 90.40 percent to 168.93 percent below fair value.

As part of that same finding, the department calculated a preliminary anti-dumping rate of 230.31 percent for Vietnam's Clearwater Metal Single Entity.

(Reporting by Eric Walsh; Editing by Mohammad Zargham and Tom Brown)