US Steel Producer Defends Countervailing of Korean Electricity Pricing, Cap-and-Trade Program

A U.S. steel producer joined the government (see 2409170033) Oct. 9 in defending a Commerce Department finding that the South Korean government’s provision of electricity at lower prices during off-peak hours was de facto specific to an exporter and that South Korea’s cap-and-trade program was countervailable (POSCO v. United States, CIT # 24-00006).

Defendant-intervenor Nucor Corp., a domestic steel producer, said in its brief opposing a motion for judgment that Commerce was right to reach its de facto specificity finding because the steel industry in Korea was among the top three industries that consumed electricity during the period of review, and that it consumed a disproportionate amount of the off-peak, lower-cost electricity. It said that the Court of International Trade precedent relied on by the plaintiff, POSCO, wasn’t persuasive because determinations about disproportionality are contextual, not “subject to rigid rules.”

And the cap-and-trade program was countervailable, and specific, because it provided a greater number of free carbon emissions allowances only to companies that meet certain criteria, the producer said.

“These additional allowances confer a benefit to POSCO because they provide the company with something of value at no cost,” it said.