Whirlpool has filed an anti-dumping petition to stop Samsung and LG dumping washing machines in the USA.
The petition was submitted to the US Department of Commerce and the US International Trade Commission and outlines “a long-term, repeated pattern of pricing below cost by Samsung and LG that is hurting American washer manufacturers”.
The petition covers full-size, top-loading and front-loading washing machines, as well as certain washer components for large residential clothes washer cabinets, tubs, baskets and drums.
Whirlpool believes enforcing trade rules will “level the playing field” for US appliance manufacturers.
“Simply put, beginning in 2013, Samsung and LG replaced their dumped washers from Korea and Mexico with dumped washers from China,” said Whirlpool president and chief operating officer Marc Bitzer. “Since then, Samsung and LG have blatantly ignored a previous US government order by continuing to dump washers into the United States. At Whirlpool, we know that open, rules-based trade ensures the highest level of innovation and choice for consumers. Our ability to innovate, invest and continue to manufacture here in the US is undermined when foreign competitors wilfully defy US government rulings. We have continuously monitored this situation during the past several years and have spent the past several months preparing this petition as the next step in an ongoing effort to prevent this serial dumping.”
In 2013, the US government found that Samsung and LG were unlawfully dumping large residential clothes washers exported to America from their production facilities in South Korea and Mexico. Whirlpool said that, in response to this, Samsung and LG moved their washer production for the United States to China, which was “skirting the order”.
A Reuters report quotes an LG Electronics US spokesman as saying that the investigation will “ultimately show that LG’s washers have not been sold unfairly in the US market”.
“The petitioner is seeking to deprive consumers of choices among different brands and LG will defend itself aggressively in this proceeding to preserve consumer choice,” he said.
Meanwhile, a Samsung Electronics spokesperson is quoted as saying that the company “respects the trade rules in the US market and is confident that the Department of Commerce and the International Trade Commission will find no infringement”.