EU cautious about Byrd amendment’s repeal

EU cautious about Byrd amendment’s repeal    The European Commission’s delegation in Washington Tuesday applauded the U.S. congressional repeal of a controversial antidumping duty law, but was disappointed that the law would not be phased out for another two years.
   The 2000 Continued Dumping and Subsidy Offset Act, known more commonly as the “Byrd amendment,” requires the federal government to compensate U.S. producers for harm caused by artificially low-priced goods from overseas competitors. The money for the payments comes from the duties paid on the injurious imports.
   Congress has been under pressure from the World Trade Organization to repeal the Byrd amendment. In January 2003, the WTO ruled in favor of complaints from EU and 10 other countries. However, it took two years before Congress could eliminate the controversial legislation.
   On Feb. 1, the U.S. House of Representatives approved the Conference Report for the Senate’s version of the 2005 Deficit Reduction Act, which included the Byrd amendment repeal, by a vote of 216 – 214.
   “The Byrd amendment has been a persistent source of tension between the United States and its main trading partners and benefits only a handful of U.S. companies,” the EU’s Washington delegation said in a statement.
   Customs and Border Protection has distributed more than $1.26 billion in Byrd amendment payments since 2001, with more than one-third going to Ohio bearing maker Timken. In 2005, CBP handed out $226 million, with 80 percent being given to 34 American companies.
   The repeal is “a significant step towards bringing the United States into compliance with the WTO obligations and removing a serious trade problem,” the delegation added.
   However, the repeal doesn’t become effective until Sept. 30, 2007. “That means that distribution of collected antidumping and anti-subsidy duties to U.S. companies will continue to distort the conditions of competition on the U.S. market at the expense of imported goods for a number of years,” the delegation said.
   For more details about the Byrd amendment and its repeal, read the February American Shipper, pages 50-52 (https://www.americanshipper.com).