Federal regulators agree with the paper company Appleton , that China and Germany are illegally dumping paper into the American market. Thursday's ruling by the U.S. International Trade Commission is a big win for Appleton: it imposes tariffs on the lightweight thermal paper from those two countries. The ruling "acknowledges the negative impact of some unfair trade conditions," said Bill Vanden Brandt, a spokesman for Appleton. "More importantly, it restores a level playing field on which we can compete."
The commission's decision against China was a unanimous 6-0, while members split 3-3 on the case against Germany. Appleton still won that ruling on the tie. Appleton filed its complaint in September of last year. "It's been difficult to compete against products that are being unfairly traded, dumped and subsidized" by the Chinese and German governments," said Vanden Brandt. "We would have continued to compete, it just would have been much more difficult." The paper company will NOT receive any damages from the case: money from the new tariffs goes to the U.S Treasury Department.
