In their unrelenting quest to halt illegal dumping by international competitors, Whirlpool Corporation today announced their filing of a safeguard petition with the U.S. International Trade Commission as the company’s next step in addressing the ongoing efforts of Samsung and LG to evade U.S. trade laws. A safeguard action essentially provides an effective remedy for serious injury to U.S. manufacturers of large residential washers caused by surging imports. The U.S. Government has twice found these imports were unlawfully dumped by Samsung and LG.
Today’s filing follows antidumping cases against Samsung and LG in which the U.S. Government determined that these companies injured U.S. washer manufacturers by selling imported washing machines in the United States at illegally dumped prices. Samsung and LG responded to these prior rulings by relocating their production facilities to other foreign countries in order to circumvent the U.S. Government’s rulings.
Whirlpool Chairman & CEO Jeff Fettig says today, “This filing addresses unprecedented behavior by two serial violators of U.S. trade laws.” He adds, “If not for this unlawful behavior, we believe our washer category would have thrived like the rest of our North American business.” Fettig argues that, “Whirlpool, along with our Clyde employees, is taking this action because U.S. manufacturers and workers need comprehensive trade relief that Samsung and LG cannot circumvent. The safeguard petition allows for the effective application and enforcement of trade rules that are critical to maintaining jobs and supporting free and fair competition in the United States.”
More than 2,000 employees from Whirlpool Corporation’s washer manufacturing facility in Clyde, Ohio, signed on to the formal petition to emphasize the importance of enforcing trade laws to preserve U.S. manufacturing jobs.
A safeguard petition is the only effective means available to the U.S. Government to address a pattern of cheating through country hopping. In contrast to the country-specific antidumping remedy that the U.S. Government applied to Samsung and LG in South Korea, Mexico and China, a safeguard remedy addresses imports from Samsung and LG – regardless of their country-hopping behavior – that cause injury to U.S. washer manufacturers. Whirlpool is filing this petition to ensure fair competition and to enable U.S. manufacturers to continue creating jobs, investing in new facilities and funding research that drives innovation to benefit consumers.
Here is a history of Samsung’s and LG’s cheating by country hopping to avoid U.S. trade remedies:
- In 2013, the U.S. Government found that Samsung and LG were unlawfully dumping South Korean and Mexican washers into the United States.
- The two companies responded by moving washer production to China to continue their illegal dumping behavior.
- Earlier this year, the U.S. Government issued a new anti-dumping order against Samsung and LG in China. But several months before the government issued its ruling, Samsung and LG stockpiled product in the United States and again moved their washer production – this time to factories in Vietnam and Thailand – in order to do another end run around the U.S. trade laws and continue their injurious behavior.
The following is the expected timeline for this safeguard petition:
- Late September 2017: The International Trade Commission votes to determine whether increased washer imports have been (or threaten to be) a substantial cause of serious injury to the U.S. washer industry.
- Late November 2017: If the ITC reaches an affirmative determination, it recommends measures to the U.S. president to remedy the injury.
- Year-end 2017: Following review of the ITC’s recommendations, if the ITC made an affirmative determination, the president could issue a remedy determination.
To learn more about Whirlpool Corp.’s U.S. investments, its commitment to free and fair trade, and prior trade cases, readers can visit this link: http://WhirlpoolCorp.com/fair-trade. Officials say that the company intends to disclose important information related to the safeguard action from time to time on that website.
Benton Harbor-based Whirlpool Corporation is the number one major appliance manufacturer in the world, with approximately $21 billion in annual sales, 93,000 employees and 70 manufacturing and technology research centers in 2016.
More than 80 percent of the products sold by Whirlpool Corp. in the United States are assembled in the United States. The company’s Clyde, Ohio, washing machine manufacturing facility not only meets America’s washer needs, but also exports 10-percent of its washer production for families throughout the world. The company’s total investments in Clyde exceed $1 billion, and the company’s washer business supports approximately 800 U.S. suppliers. There are approximately 25,000 workers at Whirlpool Corporation in the United States, with 15,000 of those jobs being held by manufacturing workers in its nine U.S. production plants.
