U.S. Rep. Pete Visclosky, D-1st, is blasting a federal appeals court ruling that countervailing duties may not be imposed against non-market economies in addition to anti-dumping duties.

The U.S. Court of Appeals issued that ruling on Dec. 19 in the case GPX International Tire Corp. v. U.S.

“Striking down countervailing duty charges that offset foreign subsidies endangers American manufacturing jobs,” said Visclosky, vice-chair of the Congressional Steel Caucus. “Allowing unfairly subsidized, below-cost goods into U.S. markets undermines our manufacturing sector, and could cripple the recovery of America’s most important job creators, like steel.”

“This ruling strikes a terrible blow to domestic manufacturers and needlessly puts American jobs at risk,” added Rep. Tim Murphy, chair of the Congressional Steel Caucus. “For our manufacturing sector to rebound, foreign governments cannot be allowed to cheat by giving generous state subsidies to exporters selling products in the U.S. I’ll continue working with like-minded lawmakers to make sure that we enact policies to prevent that from happening.”

“In 2007 the U.S. Department of Commerce determined for the first time that it could levy countervailing duties on top of anti-dumping duties for non-market economies,” according to a statement released last week by Visclosky’s office. “Implementing countervailing duties has added protection for U.S. industry against subsidized goods from non-market countries. The case will be appealed and could be heard by the Supreme Court if the appeal is accepted.”