Washington: The U.S. Court of International Trade (CIT) has once again ruled in favor of Hyundai Steel Co., a major South Korean steel company, in a retrial concerning the United States' imposition of countervailing duties on the company, as reported by Seoul's industry ministry.

According to Yonhap News Agency, the U.S. Department of Commerce had imposed a countervailing tariff of 1.08 percent on Hyundai Steel's thick steel plates in September 2023. The department claimed that the low industrial electricity rates in South Korea served as a government subsidy for Hyundai Steel, which heavily utilized these rates. The department argued that industries like steel, semiconductor, and petrochemical in Korea consumed substantial amounts of electricity to benefit from the low rates.

In December of the previous year, the CIT instructed the U.S. Department of Commerce to reevaluate its assessment of the specificity of Korea's electricity subsidy, siding with Hyundai Steel. Following this, the commerce department presented a renewed claim, asserting that Hyundai Steel received a "disproportionate" amount of state subsidy.

However, during the retrial, the CIT rejected the argument again, indicating that the U.S. government had provided the "same basis" for its logic without offering a "meaningful explanation," as stated by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy. The court had requested substantial evidence from the U.S. government regarding its claim that Hyundai Steel received a "disproportionately large amount of subsidy" and sought clarification on why Korea's steel, semiconductor, and petrochemical industries were grouped together.

The CIT's latest decision mandates that the U.S. commerce department submit a revised determination on the countervailing duties imposed on Hyundai Steel to the CIT within 90 days. Earlier this month, the CIT also ruled in favor of another Korean steelmaker, POSCO, in a similar case.