WASHINGTON New legislation that would allow American steelmakers and other companies to collect the proceeds of antidumping duties imposed on their foreign competitors "is a bad idea," U.S. trade representative Charlene Barshefsky said on Thursday.
"I won't go into the reasons why it is a bad idea, but it is," Barshefsky said in remarks at the National Press Club.
If the measure becomes law, the administration will enforce it, Barshefsky said.
But she seemed to encourage the next congress, which will convene in January 2001, to overturn the provision.
The duties, imposed by the U.S. government on Japanese, European and other foreign producers accused of dumping their products on the U.S. market at below fair market value, total about $40 million a year.
The measure was spearheaded by West Virginia democratic Sen.
Robert Byrd, who attached it to a broader agricultural spending bill that the senate approved on Wednesday 86-8. It was passed by the House of Representatives on Oct. 11.
The White House opposes the Byrd provision because of its potential for triggering trade disputes.
But a White House spokesman repeated on Thursday that President Bill Clinton would sign the spending bill, which provides about $78 billion in funding for Agriculture Department programs and eases the U.S. embargo on Cuba.
The European Union has warned that the payments allowed under the Byrd amendment would constitute a prohibited subsidy that could be "actionable" under World Trade Organization rules.
Other critics say the provision would create a financial incentive for U.S. producers to bring antidumping cases that may not be justified.
"If it's law, it will be enforced," Barshefsky said, when asked how the administration would handle the measure. "There's always the question of what the next Congress does." Free-trade Republicans in the House and Senate still hope to pass new legislation in the waning days of Congress to prevent Byrd's measure from taking effect.
Representative Phil Crane, chairman of the House and Ways and Mean Subcommittee on Trade, will look for opportunities to overturn the provision until Congress adjourns, a spokesman said.
Byrd and his backers argued that the measure was needed to help a wide range of cash-strapped American industries, from steel producers to ranchers and apple growers. "Current law has not been strong enough to deter unfair practices," Byrd said.
Earlier this week, the United Steelworkers Union and 75 steel industry executives wrote a letter to Clinton urging him to curb low-priced imports. It said the latest import surge had triggered a new round of worker layoffs and could force more steel firms into bankruptcy.
(Reuter)