Asia Times: Trade war: US vs the rest of the world

[Robbien]

<snip>

Apart from China, at which its ire is primarily targeted, the US report names dozens of other countries for blocking trade, even as the European Union and Canada have joined hands to slap an extra 15% tariff on a range of US goods in retaliation to the Bush administration's use of anti-dumping duties.

Meanwhile, the 182-page annual foreign market access report released by China's Ministry of Commerce on Thursday claimed that Chinese companies faced more trade and investment barriers in the US than in any other part of the world in the past year. While it devoted 22 pages to the obstacles faced in the US, the European Union received 18 and Japan 14. It is the third report of its kind to be issued by the ministry's Bureau of Fair Trade for Imports and Exports, summing up Chinese firms' trade and investment difficulties in the nation's 22 major trading partners.

<snip>

But far from being cowed by the scathing criticism, the EU - along with Canada - has announced that they will impose trade sanctions on several American goods in retaliation to a tax system that compensates American manufacturers "hurt" by foreign goods sold "below cost". From May 1, the EU and Canada will raise import duties by 15% on US products ranging from pocket diaries, women's trousers, frozen sweet corn, cigarettes, pigs and oysters.

The retaliation comes in response to the Byrd amendment that allows the US government to pass on the proceeds from import duties to the companies that request these duties as anti-dumping protection. In four such distributions since 2000, the US government has handed $1 billion to American companies. In November, the WTO ruled that the Byrd amendment was unfair and listed seven countries, including Canada, China and Japan, which could impose sanctions in retaliation. This row comes close on the heels of the collapse of negotiations between Europe and the US over subsidies to Airbus and Boeing.

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Global_Economy/GD02Dj02.html

bolding of the Byrd amendment is mine. So we give companies farm subsidies and tax credits for doing offshore business AND now we see they get proceeds from the duty taxes we levy on foreign goods.

[w4rma]

1. The Byrd amendment is good. It's the WTO that is bad.

"In November, the WTO ruled that the Byrd amendment was unfair and listed seven countries, including Canada, China and Japan, which could impose sanctions in retaliation."

[Robbien]

2. If it is good, why are the companies getting the duties we levy

instead of our Federal Reserve?

[w4rma]

4. The duties go toward keeping wages higher than they are in China's rural

outlands where wages amount to a few cents per day.

The WTO is working to lower wages in America to be equal with those wages in China.

[Robbien]

6. Is there any proof that those duties go to wages

Remember this is extra money the companies get. They sell their goods at the regular prices from which they paid workers. And now on top of those proceeds they get the duties we levy on foreign goods. Did every laborer get an increase in wages equal to the extra duty bonus check the company now gets?

[w4rma]

7. No proof. In fact it's possible that this money is, in most cases, simply

pocketed by the executives and the owners.

[Spazito]

8. Actually, what also happens is those US companies

receiving the monies come into the countries that have paid the tariffs and use those monies to buy up the companies that have been backrupted by the illegal tariffs as has happened in Canada with the softwood lumber dispute.

[Robbien]

10. I tried looking it up and found this

The Byrd Amendment, formally known as the Continued Dumping and Subsidy Offset Act of 2000, requires the government to distribute antidumping and countervailing duties to U.S. companies that have petitioned the federal government for protection, rather than to the U.S. Treasury and on to U.S. taxpayers, as was the practice prior to the Act. To date, the U.S. Government has paid more than $1 billion directly to U.S. companies who file successful antidumping and countervailing duty petitions.

Forty-four companies pocketed more than $1 million each in Byrd money last year, of more than 450 companies, individuals and unions in total that received payments. For the second year in a row, the Timken Company, a Canton, Ohio-based producer of ball bearings and steel tubing, captured the highest Byrd payout, receiving more than $52 million from duties assessed on imported bearings. The second highest recipient was Lancaster Colony Corporation, a candle company based in Columbus, OH that received more than $26 million.

Companies in the steel and steel-containing products sectors captured over $138 million in Byrd payouts, and candle companies received more than $50 million in total in FY 2004. Other sectors that received substantial government payouts include food products (such as pasta), softwood lumber, chemicals and cement.

"The Byrd Amendment rewards U.S. companies for doing nothing more than filing trade suits," said Michael Fanning, CITAC Chairman and Vice President for Corporate Affairs at Michelin North America. "The law creates a strong incentive to file unjustified trade cases that harm American consumers and the consuming industries that serve them. Moreover, it violates our international trade agreements, leaving U.S. exporters open to retaliatory sanctions while a select few companies enjoy a government handout."

http://www.fibre2fashion.com/news/NewsDetails.asp?News_id=12716

From this, it doesn't seem likely that the duties go to support wages.

[idlisambar]

13. The companies decide what to do with the money

It could go to investment in infrastructure/ R&D, higher wages, or in the worst case bigger dividend payouts. Frankly, I would like to see some conditions placed on the receipt anti-dumping funds but the general idea is not a bad one. It makes sense to give the funds to those that were hurt by the dumping in the first place.

[doodadem]

3. Just so I'm clear here

Was the Byrd amendment written by Senator Robert Byrd, Democrat???

[Robbien]

11. Yes. Remember Senator Byrd is a politician

Found this on the passage of the amendment

Despite the known opposition-or more likely because of it-Sen. Robert Byrd (D-WV) surreptitiously inserted the language from S.61 into a 2001 appropriations bill for agriculture and related programs at the last minute without any debate on the amendment. Hence, it became known as the Byrd amendment.

Since it would have required a vote against the entire appropriations bill to defeat the Byrd amendment, Congress passed the legislation and sent it to the president for his signature. In October 2000 President Clinton signed the bill into law but noted the WTO-inconsistent nature of the Byrd amendment, calling on the Congress "to override this provision, or amend it to be acceptable, before they adjourn." That never happened.

[Spazito]

12. Thanks for this post...

I didn't know about Clinton's note on the inconsistency of the Byrd amendment. I had always wondered why Clinton supported this, I now know both the conditions under which this was passed and his request to have it removed.

[Spazito]

5. The WTO is right

The US signed on to NAFTA and until they withdraw the ruling of the WTO apply. The Bird amendment is sheer protectionism and against NAFTA.

The question of whether NAFTA is good or bad is a totally different issue. I wish Canada would serve notice to withdraw as I believe NAFTA only serve the corporations at the expense of the signatories' citizens but until that happens the least the US could do is follow the rules. Sadly, with the bush admin in, agreements, whether they be the Geneva Conventions, theVienna Convention, etc, mean nothing.

[Say_What]

9. Trade war: US vs the rest of the world (China)

<clips>

China and the United States have brought out separate reports blaming each other for raising maximum trade barriers, once again bringing their increasing differences over trade-related issues into sharp focus.

Apart from China, at which its ire is primarily targeted, the US report names dozens of other countries for blocking trade, even as the European Union and Canada have joined hands to slap an extra 15% tariff on a range of US goods in retaliation to the Bush administration's use of anti-dumping duties.

Meanwhile, the 182-page annual foreign market access report released by China's Ministry of Commerce on Thursday claimed that Chinese companies faced more trade and investment barriers in the US than in any other part of the world in the past year. While it devoted 22 pages to the obstacles faced in the US, the European Union received 18 and Japan 14. It is the third report of its kind to be issued by the ministry's Bureau of Fair Trade for Imports and Exports, summing up Chinese firms' trade and investment difficulties in the nation's 22 major trading partners.

Trade remedies, technical standards, quarantine, quality inspection, intellectual property rights, customs procedural requirements, environmental protection and labor standards were among the measures used against Chinese exports and investment, according to the report. While the first edition of the report highlighted 250 trade and investment problems, this edition pointed to 450.

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Global_Economy/GD02Dj02.html