Canada to put trade surtax on U.S. goodsFrom wire reports
OTTAWA — The Canadian government Thursday said it will slap a 15% surtax on some U.S. products in retaliation for a lingering trade dispute. The retaliatory surtax will amount to $11.6 million this year.
The announcement of the surtax on cigarettes, oysters and live swine from the USA came just as the European Union took a similar measure.
Canada is joining countries from around the world protesting a U.S. trade measure known as the Byrd amendment, which the World Trade Organization has deemed illegal.
The Byrd amendment allows American companies to keep the proceeds that Washington collects in anti-dumping disputes, something Canada and other countries complain unfairly enriches their U.S. rival firms.
"For the last four years, Canada and a number of other countries have repeatedly urged the United States to repeal the Byrd amendment," Canadian International Trade Minister Jim Peterson said in a statement Thursday.
"Retaliation is not our preferred option, but it is a necessary action. International trade rules must be respected."
The Canadian sanctions, which also cover certain types of fish, are to take effect May 1.
The EU says it will slap duties of up to 15%, also on May 1, on such U.S. imports as paper, textiles, machinery and farm produce.
The 25-member EU said it took that action "in light of the continuing failure of the United States to bring its legislation in conformity with its international obligations."
Both Canada and the EU have long asked Washington to repeal the Byrd amendment.
In November, the WTO gave Canada and the other co-complainants the authority to retaliate. The other countries involved include Mexico, Japan, India and Brazil.
The developments come a day after the Bush administration cited a total of 58 countries and three trading areas for erecting significant trade barriers that harm U.S. manufacturers and farmers.
As usual, the report devoted the most coverage to China, a total of 58 pages, but included countries from Angola to Vietnam.
http://www.usatoday.com/money/economy/trade/2005-03-31-trade-usat_x.htm
In November, the WTO gave Canada and the other co-complainants the authority to retaliate. The other countries involved include Mexico, Japan, India and Brazil.
Unless Congress repeals the law, the case may become the most damaging ever at the WTO when the U.S. begins distributing tariffs collected on Canadian lumber, worth $4 billion a year. Japan, the economy most affected by the Byrd Amendment, has the right to impose customs duties worth 125 billion yen ($116 million), the biggest sanctions awarded to Japan in a dispute.
President George W. Bush called for a repeal of the Byrd Amendment in his budget proposal to Congress on Feb. 7, saying that ending the law could save the U.S. Treasury $1.6 billion in the next fiscal year.
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So, unless the Byrd amendment is repealed, many nations, not just the EU, will be retaliating. It would be prudent not to irritate the Japanese, with their vast holdings of US Treasuries - which they can dump any time they please. The posted article states that President Bush is in favor of repeal. Sounds like prompt action is needed - unless he wants to get into a trade war against the whole world --- at the conclusion of which we are likely to be even more a beggar nation than we are now - and finally shocked into seeing it.
Is repeal legislation before Congress now?
The retaliatory surtax will amount to $11.6 million this year.
The announcement of the surtax on cigarettes, oysters and live swine -
(LIVE SWINE? WHAT DO DEMOCRATS HAVE TO DO WITH IT?)-
from the USA came just as the European Union took a similar measure.