A coalition of U.S. manufacturers of welded steel towers for wind turbines is seeking relief from the federal government, alleging in a trade complaint that producers in China and Vietnam are benefiting from their governments’ subsidies, allowing them to sell wind towers below cost and undermining the fair market rate. The Wind Tower Trade Coalition includes Broadwind Energy, DMI Industries, Katana Summit, and Trinity Structural Towers. Their complaint filed with the U.S. International Trade Commission and Commerce Department seeks tariffs up to 60% on imported steel wind tower from those two nations.

In addition, the four companies filed a countervailing-duty complaint against China. Any tariffs issued in the case would be attached to specific goods offered at or below the market price in the country of origin. Countervailing duties would seek to compensate for unlawful government subsidies that the home country provides to the manufacturers.

“The Chinese and Vietnamese industries are using unfair pricing practices to capture critical sales from the U.S. industry,” stated Alan Price, an attorney representing the Wind Tower Trade Coalition. Reports indicate that the entire industry supplied about 2,900 towers in 2010.

Price indicated that imports of welded steel towers from Vietnam and China roughly doubled in 2011. Imports may account for half of the domestic market, according to the complainants.

Companies that allege trade violations file their complaints with the Commerce Dept. and ITC, and the former will hold a hearing to determine whether to proceed with an investigation. That hearing is expected this month. An investigation may take several months to complete. Once it is complete, Commerce will issue its findings and recommend any penalties to the ITC for a final ruling (e.g., tariffs or countervailing duties, or both.) If such penalties were to be issued, the Commerce Dept. would enforce them on future imports for a period determined by the ITC.