United States Steel Corp. said Jan. 7 it has requested more duties on steel imports from China more than a week after the U.S. International Trade Commission determined that imported Chinese steel pipes adversely impacted the domestic steel industry.

This time, U.S. Steel, along with other petitioning parties, filed a "critical circumstances" complaint with the U.S. Commerce Department alleging that certain Chinese seamless steel imports spiked 290% three months after the petitioning parties initially sought antidumping and countervailing duties on seamless standard, line and pressure pipe from China.

In response, U.S. Steel is seeking retroactively imposed duties on certain imports that entered the United States after filing the petitions.

In antidumping and countervailing duty investigations, remedial duties are normally effective when the Commerce Department issues a preliminary unfair trade decision. But under U.S. and international law, duties can be assessed on imports that entered the U.S. market up to 90 days prior to such a decision if evidence shows foreign producers surged into the market in an attempt to avoid tariffs.

If the petitioners are successful, remedial duties could be assessed on imports entering the market within 90 days prior to the preliminary countervailing duty decision, U.S. Steel says. The Commerce Department is scheduled to make its preliminary determination on Feb. 16, 2010.

The move comes just two days after U.S. authorities announced they had slapped tariffs on Chinese wire decking after a preliminary finding that the products were "dumped" at below market value.

About a week earlier, the Trade Commission issued a final decision saying that Chinese steel pipe imports adversely impacted the U.S. steel industry, paving the way for the Commerce Department to impose countervailing duties of up to nearly 16%.

Agence France-Presse contributed to this report.