United States Steel cannot bring antitrust claims against 40 Chinese steel manufacturers over alleged price-fixing, the U.S. International Trade Commission has ruled in a decision that refines exactly what type of injuries private companies must have suffered to make antitrust claims.

As part of its ruling in Certain Carbon and Alloy Steel Products, the commission determined that, in order to bring antitrust claims against other companies, private companies need to show that competition in the market as a whole had suffered, rather than just their business. The ruling, which affirmed a decision by the administrative law judge, adopted federal case law interpreting standing requirements for bringing claims under the Sherman Act.