An article in the Wall Street Journal (Jan 2, 2012) describes a claim by Whirlpool that LG and Samsung have dumped residential washing machines, at prices below production costs, and requests import duties to be levied.  Whirlpool claims that the higher margins in the protected South Korean market enables LG and Samsung to afford such US pricing. But aggressive import duties may incent LG and Samsung to set up manufacturing plants in the US, and compete even more aggressively with Whirlpool. Are Whirlpool’s claims a reasonable way to manage its competitiveness in the US ? Should the strategies used by LG and Samsung, which are good for the US consumer, be prohibited – thus increasing prices for consumers ? Given the modern global supply chain, with design, production and distribution spread across the world, what constraints regarding pricing should be prevented to enable effective competition ?