The World Trade Organization (WTO) ruled in favor of South Korea over the country’s case against the United States` antidumping duties imposed on Korean washing machines, saying the U.S. so-called targeted dumping and zeroing methods were in violation of the WTO agreement.

The WTO’s dispute settlement panel delivered its final report on the case to members on Wednesday, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy on Thursday.

The dispute began in August 2013 when Korea filed a complaint against the U.S. Department of Commerce’s decision to slap antidumping tariffs of 9 to 13 percent on South Korea-made washing machines in 2012.

In March this year, a WTO panel decided in favor of Korea, saying the so-called zeroing method used by the U.S. to impose antidumping duties was in violation of the WTO’s antidumping agreement.

Seoul raised questions against the zeroing method used by Washington to calculate punitive duties, where the U.S. counts any negative difference between the normal value of a foreign product and its export price as zero but takes positive margins as is, thus making the overall average of dumping margins greater.

After losing the case, the U.S. imposed its antidumping duties on Korean washers sold during the Black Friday sales of 2012 based on the calculation of both targeted dumping and zeroing methods.

But the WTO also found the antidumping tariff imposition under this scheme too violated the WTO agreement. The case report will likely be made final when the Dispute Settlement Board (DSB) convenes later in the month for a regular session.

South Korea’s exports of washers to the U.S. plunged from $670 million in 2011 to $140 million in 2015. As of the end of last year, the U.S. washer market is dominated by Whirlpool with a market share of 20.7 percent, while Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics made up a share of 12.8 percent and 12.0 percent, respectively.

By Ko Jae-man

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