U.S. hits China wind towers with duties as high-level talks begin

The United States on Tuesday pressed forward with plans to slap punitive duties on wind turbine towers from China, keeping up friction on the clean energy front as it welcomed a high-level Chinese delegation for trade and economic talks.

The U.S. Commerce Department set final anti-dumping duties ranging from 44.99 to 70.63 percent on utility-scale towers manufactured in China to offset what it said was unfairly low pricing and additional countervailing duties of 21.86 to 34.81 percent to combat Chinese government subsidies.

The department also slapped final anti-dumping duties of 51.40 to 58.49 percent on wind towers from Vietnam.