Antidumping duties on EC steel products draw criticism.

The U.S. Department of Commerce said it would impose antidumping duties of 0.5% to 109% on steel products imported from 20 countries, including 7 in the European Community. EC representatives attributed problems in the U.S. steel industry largely to domestic competition and said EC exporters voluntarily had restrained steel exports to the United States for 10 years. At the European Community's request, the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) established a dispute-settlement panel to investigate the matter. GATT Director General Peter Sutherland called the U.S. action an aggravation to the Uruguay Round of trade negotiations.