The Byrd Amendment, passed as part of agricultural legislation in 2000, directs revenues from anti-dumping duties to be paid to the companies that petition for the duty. The anti-dumping duty process is already rigged against importers. I summarized Douglas Irwin's comments on the process (from his book Free Trade Under Fire) a few days ago in a post on the new shrimp anti-dumping petition, here: "Shrimp anti-dumping petition".
Paul Kedrosky posts on the Byrd Amendment here: "Repealing the Byrd Amendment". He cites a column of his from this weekend's National Post and provides useful links to Byrd Amendment source material.
The World Trade Organization (WTO) has against the Byrd Amendment and other member countries are requesting permission to take retaliatory action. Here's a Canadian press release:
"The Government of Canada and seven other World Trade Organization (WTO) members today submitted requests to the WTO to be granted retaliatory authorization in light of U.S. inaction in repealing the Byrd Amendment. The other WTO members are Brazil, Chile, the European Union, India, Japan, Mexico and South Korea.
"The WTO has ruled that the Byrd Amendment does not conform with international trading obligations," said International Trade Minister Jim Peterson. "It is our view that it effectively provides a distorting double advantage to U.S. industry and, if left in place, could lead to billions of dollars in Canadian-paid duties being handed over to U.S. companies. I call upon the U.S. to preserve the integrity of the global trading system by moving expeditiously to repeal the Byrd Amendment."
Under the Continued Dumping and Subsidy Offset Act of 2000, known as the Byrd Amendment, U.S. companies that support petitions for anti-dumping and countervailing duty investigations against foreign imports are able to benefit not only from the imposition of additional duties at the border, but also from the subsequent direct payout of those duties from the U.S. Treasury.
Canada and 10 other WTO members successfully challenged the Byrd Amendment on the basis that it provides illegal remedies not covered in relevant WTO agreements. The key finding of the original panel was upheld by the WTO's Appellate Body, and the U.S. was given until December 27, 2003, to comply with the decision.
The request for retaliatory authority comes in the wake of the failure of the U.S. Congress to move to repeal or amend the Byrd Amendment by that deadline. The request will be discussed in a special Dispute Settlement Body meeting scheduled for January 26, 2004, and may subsequently be referred to an arbitrator.
Canada and co-complainants are seeking a level of retaliation linked to the dollar amount disbursed under the Byrd Amendment. If taken, retaliation measures could come in the form of tariffs or the suspension of certain obligations under the WTO Agreements on Anti-Dumping and Subsidies and Countervailing Measures, the same Agreements that the Byrd Amendment violates.
Any decision to impose retaliatory measures would only be taken after the expected arbitration process at the WTO is completed and following public consultations in Canada over the next few months on various options."
I learned about this release from Kedrosky's post.
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