The USA deprived russia of the status of a country with a market economy
The US Department of Commerce has revoked russia’s market economy status, granted two decades ago.
“Today, the US Department of Commerce announced that it will no longer treat russia as a market economy country in its anti-dumping (AD) proceedings. This decision allows the United States to apply the full force of the US AD law to address market distortions caused by the russian government’s increased interference in its economy,” the department said in an Oct. 10 statement.
According to the agency, the government’s “extensive interference” in the economy has led to distorted prices and costs in russian federation that do not accurately reflect whether russian companies are fairly pricing imports into the United States.
From now on, in future cases related to imports from russia, the US Department of Trade will use an alternative methodology for calculating AD duty on imports from russian federation. Market prices and costs from a country at a comparable level of economic development, which produces a comparable product, will be used for the calculation.
“This will allow the Department of Commerce to more effectively combat russian unfair trade practices that harm American manufacturers,” the ministry said.
The definition of a commercial market and non-market economy is based on a careful assessment of specific criteria established by US legislation: currency convertibility, the method of determining wages, the climate for foreign investment, state control over the means of production, etc.
The USA granted russia the status of a country with a market economy in 2002. This was an important step for russia’s admission to the World Trade Organization in 2012.