WASHINGTON, Dec. 21 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Committee to Support U.S. Trade Laws ("CSUSTL") today sent a letter to Secretary of Commerce Carlos Gutierrez and United States Trade Representative Susan Schwab the House and Senate leadership expressing the Committee's dissatisfaction with the draft negotiating text issued by the Chairman of the Doha Round Rules group. CSUSTL has urged the Administration to negotiate stronger rules against unfair trade practices.
A copy of the full letter is attached.
The Committee to Support U.S. Trade Laws is an ad hoc coalition representing American manufacturers, farmers and workers who are committed to preserving the U.S. trade laws as a vital protection against unfair foreign trade practices.
December 21, 2007
The Honorable Carlos M. Gutierrez
Secretary of Commerce
1401 Constitution Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20230
The Honorable Susan C. Schwab
United States Trade Representative
600 - 17th Street, NW
Washington, DC 20508
Dear Secretary Gutierrez and Ambassador Schwab:
As leaders of major American manufacturing and food production companies, their unions, and representatives of industries that have been injured by foreign unfair trade, we are writing to express our extreme disappointment in the draft negotiating text that has been issued by the Chairman of the Doha Round Rules group (i.e., the group examining potential changes to antidumping and anti-subsidy rules). We wish to make clear that we strongly oppose the provisions of this text and do not view it as an acceptable basis on which to conduct further negotiations.
With the ongoing challenges facing American manufacturers, the importance of ensuring that market forces and fair trade characterize our trading relationships has never been more critical. Evidence of unfair practices engaged in by our trading partners, and the consequent injury to core U.S. industries and their workers, grows every day. Without the assurance that American companies and workers can compete on fair terms in their own market, there is no question we will see the continuing hollowing out of our manufacturing sector - as well as the potential loss of entire industries and capabilities that are critical to our long term economic and national security.
The Chairman's draft rules text would dramatically weaken U.S. and international fair trade disciplines and make it far more difficult to use these remedies. The text would, for example, make cases more difficult to initiate, make relief more difficult to maintain beyond five years, and would impose a mandatory "sunset" of all trade orders after 10 years. It would impose an entirely new and illogical requirement that administrators weigh the windfall and illegitimate benefits to those purchasing dumped and subsidized imports against the harm caused to domestic industries by these unfair practices - something that could dramatically change the operation of our laws and act to deny relief in many cases. The text would make it more difficult to obtain information from foreign parties, or to respond to non-cooperation by such parties. These and many other provisions of the draft text would have a profound impact on our laws and threaten to render them largely ineffective in dealing with foreign unfair trade.
We see little in this draft text that would improve upon fair trade disciplines - and certainly nothing that would in any way justify or offset the weakening changes described above. While much has been made of the provision permitting "zeroing" in some circumstances, the fact remains that the Chairman's text would actually codify a ban on this critical methodology in many circumstances. Given the widespread acknowledgement by the Administration and others that WTO dispute settlement decisions on zeroing are completely unjustified and unsupported, the United States should simply refuse to implement them (which is our right). We should certainly not be "paying" for a partial restoration of rights that should never have been taken away to begin with.
We would also note our deep disappointment that the text is completely silent on numerous priorities articulated by Congress and American manufacturers and their workers. Nothing is done, for example, to correct the gross inequity in how WTO rules treat the U.S. tax system - resulting in "double taxation" of U.S. companies selling abroad, while foreign firms sell here largely tax free. There is also no progress in terms of further prohibitions on foreign subsidies, restoration of rights lost to disburse antidumping and countervailing duties to injured U.S. industries, and numerous other priorities.
The bottom line is that this is not a balanced text. In fact, it would do severe harm to our laws and our manufacturing sector. To put it plainly, we would prefer to have no Rules agreement at all than to put in place the type of damaging proposals described above.
We stand ready to work in any way possible with you and Members of Congress to see that these harmful proposals are not adopted.
Sincerely,
John J. Sweeney
President
AFL-CIO
Leo W. Gerard
President
United Steelworkers
Richard Adee
President
Adee Honey Farms, Inc.
L. Patrick Hassey
Chairman, President & CEO
Allegheny Technologies Incorporated
John P. Surma
Chairman & CEO
United States Steel Corporation
Ashley Allen
CEO
Milliken & Company
Daniel DiMicco
President & CEO
Nucor Corporation
Mark Brady
President
American Honey Producers Association
Andrew G. Sharkey, III
President & CEO
American Iron & Steel Institute
Augustine Tantillo
Executive Director
American Manufacturing Trade Action Coalition
Louis Schorsh
CEO
ArcelorMittal Flat Carbon Americas
Glenn B. Cooke
CEO
Atlantic Salmon of Maine LLC
Phoenix Salmon US, Inc.
True North Salmon US, Inc.
Fred Rocchio
President & CEO
Beta Steel Corp.
Bill Christopher
CEO
Christopher Ranch LLC
Kevin Van de Ven
Chairman
Cold Finished Bar Institute
Joseph L. Mayer
President and General Counsel
Copper & Brass Fabricators Council, Inc.
Paul J. Darling
President & CEO
Corey Steel Company
James Declusin
President & CEO
Evraz Oregon Steel Mills, Inc.
Reginald L. Brown
Executive Vice President
Florida Tomato Growers Exchange
Don Daily
President
Gallatin Steel
Joe Lane and John Layous
The Garlic Company
Mario Longhi
President & CEO
Gerdau Ameristeel
James R. Moffat
President
ICL Performance Products LP
John Tulloch
President
IPSCO
John Schultz
President
Jersey Shore Steel Company
A. Timothy Egnot
President & COO
McDonald Steel Corp.
Sebastian Bell
Director
Maine Aquaculture Association
Karl Spilhaus
President
National Textile Association
C. Davis Nelson
President
Nelson Steel Company LP
Bill Bullard
CEO
R-CALF United Stockgrowers of America
Robert Simon
Vice President & General Manager
Rocky Mountain Steel Mills
David Allibone
President
Sioux Honey Association
Keith Busse
President & CEO
Steel Dynamics, Inc.
Thomas A. Danjczek
President
Steel Manufacturers Association
James W. Griffith
President & CEO
The Timken Company
Kevin L. Kearns
President
U.S. Business and Industry Council
Roger Lindgren
President & CEO
V&M Star
Jon Vessey
CEO
Vessey and Company, Inc.
Mark Fenenbock
President
W. Silver, Inc.
The Committee to Support U.S. Trade Laws
