pnkpanther
03-30-2007, 02:42 PM
U.S., in policy shift, sets new duties on China goods By Doug Palmer
1 hour, 8 minutes ago
The U.S. Commerce Department said on Friday it was slapping duties on imports of coated paper from China, reversing a decades-old policy of not applying duties to subsidized goods from non-market economies.
Anger over the U.S. trade deficit with China, which hit a record $233 billion last year, has spurred demands for a tougher response to Chinese government subsidies, which many U.S. lawmakers believe are fueling that country's exports.
"China's economy has developed to the point that we can add another trade remedy tool, such as the countervailing duty law," U.S. Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez told reporters.
He announced a preliminary countervailing duty level of 10.90 to 20.35 percent on the coated paper from China.
The Commerce Department has reasoned that "China of 2007 is not a Soviet-bloc economy of the mid-1980s," Gutierrez said.
"Companies in China do respond to subsidies and we can reasonably measure the response," he said.
The announcement put pressure on the U.S. dollar because of concern it represented a shift to more protectionist stance.
But Gutierrez said the decision did "not signal any economic retreat from engagement with China."
"Rather it speaks of the growing strength of our commercial relationship and the fact that as economic partners we must be, above all, fair," he said.
The Bush administration still believes the best way to reduce the U.S. trade deficit is by increasing exports, not by reducing imports, Gutierrez said.
Several bills have been introduced in the U.S. Congress to require the Commerce Department to end its policy of not applying countervailing duties to non-market economies like China and Vietnam, to give U.S. manufacturers a new tool to fight unfair trade.
Despite the department's action on Friday, some of that legislation still appears likely to become law.
Gutierrez appeared to oppose those efforts, saying the department already had all the authority it needed.
"We don't believe we need any legislation to apply our law. Our law is very clear," Gutierrez said.
Last year, NewPage Corp., a Dayton, Ohio, manufacturer filed the first case asking for countervailing duties against China since 1991, when the Commerce Department rejected two such requests.
NewPage's case involves glossy paper imports from China, Indonesia and South Korea, which it believes are subsidized.
The Commerce Department's long-standing position had been it was too difficult to determine subsidy levels in a non-market economy, which China is considered under U.S. trade laws.
The U.S. Court of Appeals upheld that view in a 1986 case involving steel wire rod imports from Poland and the former Czechoslovakia. But many trade experts argued the department's stance no longer makes sense when it comes to China.
1 hour, 8 minutes ago
The U.S. Commerce Department said on Friday it was slapping duties on imports of coated paper from China, reversing a decades-old policy of not applying duties to subsidized goods from non-market economies.
Anger over the U.S. trade deficit with China, which hit a record $233 billion last year, has spurred demands for a tougher response to Chinese government subsidies, which many U.S. lawmakers believe are fueling that country's exports.
"China's economy has developed to the point that we can add another trade remedy tool, such as the countervailing duty law," U.S. Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez told reporters.
He announced a preliminary countervailing duty level of 10.90 to 20.35 percent on the coated paper from China.
The Commerce Department has reasoned that "China of 2007 is not a Soviet-bloc economy of the mid-1980s," Gutierrez said.
"Companies in China do respond to subsidies and we can reasonably measure the response," he said.
The announcement put pressure on the U.S. dollar because of concern it represented a shift to more protectionist stance.
But Gutierrez said the decision did "not signal any economic retreat from engagement with China."
"Rather it speaks of the growing strength of our commercial relationship and the fact that as economic partners we must be, above all, fair," he said.
The Bush administration still believes the best way to reduce the U.S. trade deficit is by increasing exports, not by reducing imports, Gutierrez said.
Several bills have been introduced in the U.S. Congress to require the Commerce Department to end its policy of not applying countervailing duties to non-market economies like China and Vietnam, to give U.S. manufacturers a new tool to fight unfair trade.
Despite the department's action on Friday, some of that legislation still appears likely to become law.
Gutierrez appeared to oppose those efforts, saying the department already had all the authority it needed.
"We don't believe we need any legislation to apply our law. Our law is very clear," Gutierrez said.
Last year, NewPage Corp., a Dayton, Ohio, manufacturer filed the first case asking for countervailing duties against China since 1991, when the Commerce Department rejected two such requests.
NewPage's case involves glossy paper imports from China, Indonesia and South Korea, which it believes are subsidized.
The Commerce Department's long-standing position had been it was too difficult to determine subsidy levels in a non-market economy, which China is considered under U.S. trade laws.
The U.S. Court of Appeals upheld that view in a 1986 case involving steel wire rod imports from Poland and the former Czechoslovakia. But many trade experts argued the department's stance no longer makes sense when it comes to China.