A year after filing petitions alleging foreign competitors were illegally dumping washing machines from China into the United States, Whirlpool Corporation learned Friday that the U.S. Department of Commerce had issued a final decision charging Whirlpool competitors Samsung and LG Electronics had, in fact, engaged in ongoing dumping of the machines in violation of U.S. and international trade laws. The Department of Commerce ruling is in response to Whirlpool's petition filed in December of 2015.
Friday's announced decision represents an important step toward helping to ensure free trade so U.S. manufacturers can continue to create jobs, invest in new facilities and undertake research to drive innovation.
In the ruling, the Department of Commerce announced anti-dumping margins of 52.51-percent for Samsung, and 32.12-percent for LG. Upon an anticipated affirmative U.S. International Trade Commission ruling in January 2017 on injury from the dumping, and any technical corrections from the DOC to account for possible clerical errors, Samsung and LG will be required to pay cash deposits at these substantial rates.
Whirlpool Chairman & CEO Jeff Fettig says, "The Commerce Department's ruling is an important victory in the continuing efforts to hold companies accountable when they systematically violate trade laws to gain a competitive advantage." He adds, "We are strongly committed to the application and enforcement of trade laws, which support fair competition, a solid U.S. manufacturing base and continued investments in innovation that improve the lives of our consumers."
Friday's DOC ruling outlines a long-term, pattern of serial dumping by Samsung and LG ─ a practice that is injuring American washer manufacturers and threatening American manufacturing jobs. Following a 2013 U.S. government dumping ruling, the companies moved their washer production to China, in an effort to avoid the orders. More recently, Samsung and LG stockpiled product in the United States and moved production from China to Vietnam and Thailand to avoid paying cash deposits on imports from China.
In Friday's ruling, the DOC also declined to apply Samsung's dumping rate retroactively. Although Samsung was stockpiling washers to avoid dumping duties, the stockpiling did not meet the DOC's legal threshold for critical circumstances.
Enforcing trade rules helps ensure free trade for U.S. appliance manufacturers. This includes the 25,000 people working at Whirlpool Corporation across the United States ─ including 15,000 manufacturing workers located in nine plants across the country.
Looking forward, Whirlpool delineated the next step in the resolution process, saying that on January 10, 2017 the U.S. International Trade Commission is expected to vote on whether the dumped imports caused injury to the U.S. clothers washer industry.
To learn more about the company's U.S. investments and prior trade case, you can visit their website: WhirlpoolCorp.com/fair-trade.
Benton Harbor-based Whirlpool Corporation is the number one major appliance manufacturer in the world, with approximately $21 billion in annual sales, 97,000 employees and 70 manufacturing and technology research centers in 2015. The company markets Whirlpool, KitchenAid, Maytag, Consul, Brastemp, Amana, Bauknecht, Jenn-Air, Indesit and other major brand names in nearly every country throughout the world. Additional information about the company can be found at WhirlpoolCorp.com, or follow along on Twitter at @WhirlpoolCorp.
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 washers needs but also exports 10 percent of the washers it makes to meet the needs of families throughout the world. In the United States, the company's investments include $1.6 billion in supply chain spending, $7.4 billion in manufacturing spending and more than $1 billion in its U.S. facilities since 2010. Whirlpool employs 25,000 people in the United States, with 15,000 of those jobs being held by manufacturing workers in its nine U.S. production plants.
Whirlpool Corp. has a two-decade history meeting the needs of Chinese consumers through significant manufacturing and research and development investments in the country. The company has more than 20,000 employees in Beijing, Shanghai, Shandong, Zhejiang, Guangdong, and Anhui provinces. China is an important growth market for Whirlpool Corp., and the company is quickly expanding its investment in the country.
