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[Tvoivozhd <tvoivozd AT infionline.net>]

Dum-dums never learn, never stop make the same stupid mistake over and 
over and over forever.

First it was the idiot tariff on Canadian lumber, then the tariff on 
imported steel, then the tariff on shrimp from Vietnamese and
Thailand shrimp farms.

The U.S. "Anti-dumping Law" is a witches brew bearing no relationship to 
a foreign country dumping products on the U.S. below the cost of 
production or below the price producers charge in their own country.

Bush keeps beating this dead horse so the WTO, Europe and Asia can 
retaliate against any and all U.S. products that suit their fancy.  Is 
there no end to the ways he will damage the U.S. Economy?  What the hell 
is this yo-yo thinking of , or is he too stupid to think at all?

<http://ap.tbo.com>

Aug 31, 2004


   WTO Authorizes Sanctions Against U.S. Over Antidumping Rules

By Paul Ames
Associated Press Writers

BRUSSELS, Belgium (AP) - World Trade Organization arbitrators Tuesday 
authorized the European Union and other leading U.S. trade partners to 
impose sanctions against the United States in response to antidumping 
rules.

The decision by the WTO in Geneva allows the complainants to fine the 
United States up to 72 percent of money collected under the Byrd 
Amendment, which empowers Washington to levy fines against foreign 
companies judged to be dumping goods on the U.S. market.

Those fines are then paid to rival American companies that filed 
complaints against the foreign exporters.

The EU's trade commissioner, Pascal Lamy, indicated that the 25-nation 
bloc may hold off before imposing sanctions. "This is a decision that 
still has to be taken," he told reporters.

Besides the EU, global trade regulators backed the bids by Japan, 
Brazil, Canada, Chile, India, South Korea and Mexico to impose 
countermeasures against the U.S. law.

However, the complainants may prefer to use the threat of sanctions as a 
"smoking gun" to force the United States to repeal the legislation more 
quickly or to obtain concessions in other trade negotiations.

"Japan strongly hopes the United States will repeal the Byrd Amendment 
at an early date, so that we can avoid invoking our right to take 
countermeasures," Japan's economy, trade and industry minister, Shoichi 
Nakagawa, said in Tokyo.

Nakagawa was quoted by Japan's Kyodo News service as saying that if the 
United States refuses to repeal the Byrd Amendment, Japan will ask the 
WTO to approve, "possibly this fall," specific retaliatory measures.

U.S. officials pointed out that the WTO's ruling fell short of the 
requests of the complainants, who had sought the right to increase 
import tariffs on selected U.S. goods by the total amount collected in 
fines against their exporters in the previous year.

"The arbitrators' determinations fell far short of the amount requested 
by the complaining parties," U.S. trade spokesman Christopher Padilla 
said in a statement.

He said the Bush administration would work with Congress to comply with 
the WTO "in a way that supports American jobs and American workers."

Named for its sponsor, West Virginia Senator Robert Byrd, the 3-year-old 
amendment primarily benefited American steel manufacturers. Other 
recipients include makers of pasta and candles.

The WTO ruled the measure illegal in 2002, backing claims that it 
punishes exporters to the United States twice because they are fined 
first, and then those fines are passed on to their competitors.

Padilla said the ruling would not affect Washington's powers to impose 
duties on countries that unfairly dump cut-price goods on U.S. markets, 
since the Byrd Amendment only concerns how those duties are disbursed.

The WTO had given the United States until the end of last year to change 
the law, but although the Bush administration recommended the amendment 
should be repealed, U.S. Congress has yet to make the changes.

AP-ES-08-31-04 1206EDT