The World Trade Organisation (WTO) today launched a new investigation into US anti-dumping measures on European Union exports of goods ranging from steel to pasta and chemicals.
The WTO's Dispute Settlement Body (DSB) agreed automatically to an inquiry because it was the second time the EU had made the request for an investigation.
The inquiry will examine the use of so-called "zeroing" in the calculation of possible anti-dumping duties, a practice already ruled illegal by the WTO in a number of different cases.
Anti-dumping measures are intended to stop imports of products at predatory pricing levels. The EU believes the US is using the argument to justify unfair tarriffs on its exports.
Meanwhile, european industry groups have accused EU trade chief Peter Mandelson of changing the way he handles anti-dumping cases to make it more difficult for European manufacturers to protect themselves against cheap imports.
The groups representing metals, mining and chemicals firms among others wrote to European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso about their "increasing concern" over the changes and said Brussels seemed to have "an anti-industry bias".
"Within less than one year, taking recourse to the anti-dumping instrument has become a highly uncertain undertaking on which companies are increasingly reluctant to embark," the letter said.
Some European countries and manufacturing sectors have long considered Mr Mandelson too much of a trade liberal. But other more free-market governments, and retailers keen for cheap imports, want him to do more to bring down trade barriers.
Late last year Mandelson launched a review of how the EU's anti-dumping rules work, asking whether they needed to be updated to reflect the growing role of countries such as China in supplying cheap products for European consumers.
The review is continuing. But some countries keen to defend their manufacturers have accused him of changing the rules already to make it harder for anti-dumping cases to succeed.