Statement
from the Office of the United States Trade
Representative in response
to the report of the WTO Appellate Body released today in the dispute
concerning the U.S. “Continued Dumping and Subsidy Offset Act of
2000:”
"We
welcome the findings in today's report that the Act is
consistent with
the WTO requirements for the initiation of anti-dumping or countervailing duty
investigations. We are still reviewing that report, but we note that
since the dispute did not involve
the underlying U.S. anti-dumping and
countervailing duty laws, the United States will continue to
vigorously
enforce those laws to ensure that U.S. industries, farmers, and workers are not
forced
to compete with unfairly traded imports. We are however
disappointed with the Appellate Body's
findings concerning the funds
disbursed under the Act.
The
United States has been a leader in supporting rules-based
dispute
settlement in the WTO. Therefore, in this case as in others, the United States
will seek
to comply with its WTO obligations. We are reviewing the
report to assess the best
compliance options, and will discuss these
with the Ways and Means and Finance Committees, and all
other
interested members of Congress."
Background
The
Continued Dumping and Subsidy Offset Act of 2000 ("CDSOA") was
enacted
in October 2000 as part of a Fiscal Year 2001 agriculture appropriations
bill. As it was considered for the first time as part an appropriations
bill, it was not approved by
the Senate Finance and House Ways and
Means Committees.
On
September 10, 2001, a WTO dispute settlement panel was
established at
the request of Australia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, the European Union, India,
Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Mexico and Thailand to examine the consistency
of the CDSOA with U.S. WTO
obligations under the WTO Anti-dumping
Agreement and the WTO Subsidies Agreement. The
panel found against the
United States on three of the five principal claims asserted
by the
complaining parties.
The
United States appealed the panel's adverse findings to the WTO
Appellate Body on October 18, 2002. Under WTO rules, the WTO Dispute
Settlement Body ("DSB")
will adopt its recommendations and rulings in
the dispute within 30 days. The
United States will seek agreement with
the 11 complaining parties on the reasonable period
of time for the
United States to comply with the DSB recommendations and
rulings.”
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